Official fuel economy testing for all vehicles is conducted on chassis dynamometers, which are basically treadmills for cars and trucks. One subtlety of chassis dynamometer testing is that vehicle fuel economy measurements using decades-old standard speed profiles may be overly optimistic compared to today’s average on-road fuel use. Official methods exist to adjust the test cycle fuel economy of conventional vehicles to better estimate expected real-world fuel use, but a similar adjustment method has yet to be finalized for PHEVs.

From a National Renewable Energy Lab paper on plug-in hybrid efficiency testing [via Green Car Congress].

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Project Better Place founder Shai Agassi tells Auto Motor und Sport that his firm’s EV versions of the Renault Fluence will cost €3,000- €5,000 less than the gas-powered Renault versions. The only downside is that you have to live in Israel or Denmark to qualify. Oh yeah, and then there’s the “batteries not included” issue. To actually use the car you need to lease a battery (”The batteries belong to us,” scowls Agassi) which will run you about €250/month for about 1,500 miles (30k km/year). Unlimited mileage costs about €350/month. “Try to make a deal like that with Shell,” dares Agassi. But behind the posturing remains the fact that Better Place’s battery-swap scheme wouldn’t work if the Israeli and Danish governments hadn’t bought in. Agassi admits that his cars would cost more than Renault’s gas-burners if they backing governments didn’t heavily subsidize them. But Agassi figures these incentives will merely bridge the gap to higher volumes. “Electric cars are like other electronic devices: every two or three years the price will go down by half.” Hey, if that’s what it says on the business plan . . . .

Wards Auto World reports that Hyundai won’t be offering a V6 in its much-hyped, next-generation Sonata sedan. A direct-injection version of its Theta four-cylinder is expected to be the only engine option, making Sonata the first DI four-pot midsized sedan on the market. The V6 option will also be yanked from the Tucson cute-ute. Though the Sonata will be one of the few mid-sized sedans on the US market without a V6 option, don’t expect it to be a problem even for ostensibly torque-obsessed Americans. According to Wards, 85 percent of the current generation of Sonatas are built with four cylinder engines. 76 percent of Accords and 90 percent of Camrys on the market are four-bangers as well. With CAFE standards climbing rapidly, the era of the four-cylinder family sedan is clearly upon us.

AutoBild reports that Audi will be dropping Lamborghini-sourced V10s from its R8, RS6 and S8 models. AB blames the V10’s weight, thirst and complexity for the move, although one might guess brand strategy played a role in the decision as well. With over twice as many brands as GM, the Volkswagen Group has to work hard at not competing with itself, and keeping V10s in the Lamborghini camp seems like a good place to start. But Audi’s long-soldiering aluminum 4.2 V8, which has seen duty in everything from the R8 to the RS4, has also earned eight-cylinder engines a home in the Audi brand. And since that engine is used by independent supercar manufacturers from Spyker to Gumpert, there’s no shame in giving up a pair of cylinders. Besides, with the new S4 downsized to a supercharged V6, there’s room at the top of the range for an eight-pot. And guess what? There’s a new one in the works. AutoBild says an Audi-only 4.0 V8 is being developed which will make up to 550 hp and 515 lb·ft of twist in its highest state of tune. And even that won’t be the be-all and end-all of Audi performance: an R5 coupe is set to debut towards the end of 2011, powered by a 375 hp 2.5 liter turbo-five that harks back to the Ur-Quattro.

We will only do a hybrid if that is what is required to maintain the vehicle. I think we have a pretty good plan right now that probably will not require a hybrid in the near term . . . I don’t believe that we need to do a six-cylinder engine in a Corvette at this time.

GM’s Tom Stephens, promising Automotive News [sub] that new efficiency standards won’t tame Chevy’s little red love machine. Incidentally, GM has already developed a hybrid ‘vette. In theory.

Just don’t ask what the newly-released rules will do to the upfront cost of your new car. Though the EPA claims that 35.5 mpg by 2016 is “within reach” of the industry, OEMs will certainly pass some of the $2 billion in costs to meet the standard onto consumers. Let’s also not forget the billions of taxpayer money spent on retooling loans intended as a payoff to the industry for agreeing to the standard, or the EPA’s estimate that new regulations will save consumers $3,000 in fuel cost is over the vehicle’s lifetime. Good thing the new rules will save the environment and improve energy independence. Otherwise we’d have a really hard time being positive about all this.

Yes, well, Car And Driver’s Dave Vanderwerp kind of stole our headline for his takedown of EPA testing practices. Still, he earns it by stripping away any illusions you may have harbored about the rigor of the EPA testing process. Did you know that the EPA only tests 15 percent of all new vehicle models, taking automakers at their word for the other 85 percent? Surely you were aware that the EPA once had to convert a Bugatti Veyron to two-wheel drive for testing because it didn’t have four-wheel dynos at the time? No? Hell, the EPA test can’t even tell whether the BMW M5’s +100hp “M” button is on or off. No wonder the Volt is going to get 2,347 mpg! Read the whole thing over at MSN Autos.

Subaru’s first US-market continuously-variable transmission (CVT) was a major factor in the 2010 Outback’s recent two-star TTAC review. Not in the “one niggling fault” way either. Think more along the lines of the “metaphor for myriad brand betrayals” kind of dislike. Subaru’s vehicles are getting heavier, their interiors are becoming more plasticky-gimmicky and much of the driving fun once available in say, a stock Impreza, has gone the way of quirky styling and rugged functionality. And guess what? Subaru’s mainstream trend-encies look to be here to stay.

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GM set off something of an insanity bomb a few weeks back by claiming their Volt moonshot would get 230 mpg based on draft EPA testing standards. Nissan countered via Twitter, claiming that its forthcoming Leaf EV would get 367 mpg using the same test, and the age of EV efficiency madness was initiated. Needless to say, neither the Volt nor the Leaf can be directly tested to give an apples-to-apples comparison to internal combustion-powered vehicles, and this opening salvo seemed bent on removing plausibility from the EV efficiency equation. But sanity in EV efficiency has an unlikely new champion in luxo-EREV maker Fisker.

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Mick Jagger once sang that “you can’t always get what you want,” and, to a degree, he was right. As a petrol head and committed environmentalist, I’ve found I’ve had to make compromises. After going crazy in my friend’s Porsche Boxster, I develop a painful pang of guilt of all the resources I wasted in the name of fun. No, really. Likewise, after driving greenly in my Toyota Yaris on a long drive (achieving 50 mpg for anyone who’s interested), I feel like I’ve watched a Russell Brand stand up show (i.e., I feel like my soul is damaged due to the absence of fun). But now it seems like Mr. Jagger’s words are out of date. Apparently, you CAN get what you want . . . .

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