It might only be available to lease in limited numbers in only a few areas, but the Honda Fit EV certainly has one thing that's tremendously good about it: an official EPA rating of 118 MPGe and a range of 82 miles. Specifically, the all-electric Fit gets 132/105/118 city/highway/combined MPGe. Honda says the little EV is the most efficient vehicle the EPA has ever tested, but we're not sure about that.
Honda does say, "the 2013 Honda Fit EV tops all other EV offerings in efficiency ratings, providing the most mileage for your electric dollar," and that Roadster only got 124 MPGe on the city cycle, so maybe there's an asterisk needed somewhere. Or perhaps Honda is comparing the kWh required to go 100 miles (the Fit needs just 29, while the Roadster 2.5 uses 30). Whatever the specifics of the situation are, the Fit EV is one efficient little car, and this makes us doubly sad that Honda is treating it like a compliance car.
Leases will be begin "in select California and Oregon markets during the summer of 2012, followed by an East Coast rollout in 2013." The Fit EV will likely cost $399 a month and have an MSRP of $36,625. Last we heard, Honda only plans on making 1,100 Fit EVs for the U.S. market.
*UPDATE: As we suggested, Honda is using the kWh per 100 miles number for the calculation for "highest efficiency rating." Thus, Honda told AutoblogGreen, the Fit EV compares to the Tesla Roadster 2.5 (kWh per 100 miles, lower is better) this way:
Fit EV: City, 26 / Highway, 32 / Combined, 29
Roadster 2.5: City, 32 / Highway, 33 / Combined, 30
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