ELECTRIC CAR SALES FIZZLE IN FEBRUARY

Autoblog Green has turned up the numbers for the Cheverolet Volt and Nissan Leaf sales for the month of February and it's not good. The Volt's sales declined from January's 321 to just 281. The Leaf didn't fair much better, losing 20 sales from January bringing them down to a paltry 67 for February.

Constrained supplies may have something to do with the anemic sales for both months, it could also be that people don't want to pay the price Chevy and Nissan are asking for a small car, regardless if it is all electric or not.

NISSAN REVISES 2011 LEAF DELIVERY ESTIMATES LOWER

Back in December Nissan representative Tim Gallagher said "By the end of summer, our goal is to have everyone in their car." That would have meant 20,000-odd Leafs shipped before leaves start falling from trees, but now Nissan North America's Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing Brian Carolin thinks we won't even see that many until next year. "I think 20,000 will be too high," he said, referring to total deliveries for 2011. "You just have to make this launch absolutely perfect. It's not a numbers game."

NISSAN LEAF ALLOWS DRIVERS TO EARN TROPHIES

Taking a page from Xbox Live or the Playstation Network, the Nissan Leaf allows drivers to compete with other Leaf owners in their area for trophies. The Regional Rankings page of the Carwings system rates drivers on driving efficiency against others in their area. Drivers can earn bronze, silver, gold and platinum trophies. [Engadget]

NISSAN LEAF GETS 'EQUIVALENT' STICKER OF 99 MPG

Nissan's incoming Leaf has just nabbed an official EPA sticker, with a mind-melting 99MPG "equivalent" rating set to grace every single window. That'll undoubtedly catch eyes, but it's also likely to spur a huge debate on what "miles per gallon" truly means when you're throwing a battery into the mix. We actually had the pleasure of driving one ourselves late last month, but we weren't able to take off on any extended joyrides to really put MPG claims to the test. At any rate, the 99 rating breaks down to 106MPG in the city and 92MPG on the highway, but there's quite a bit of fuzzy math here that gas guzzlers aren't accustomed to considering. Nissan claims that the EPA uses a formula where 33.7 kWhs are equivalent to one gallon of gasoline energy, and that the entity also found the Leaf's efficiency to be 3.4 miles per kWh. Given that the car has a 24 kWh battery pack and can go 73 miles officially, then the EPA says it could theoretically go 99 miles if it had a 33.7 kWh pack. Still, the Leaf has to await its other label from the FTC, but it's apt to show a range of 96 to 110 miles of range. [Engadget]