Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition parties pledged this week to spend more than $700 million by 2011 on developing electric vehicles, as it tries to put 1 million electric vehicles on German roads by 2020. The preliminary plan, still short on details, is already meeting resistance for not going far enough.

What will fuel-economy numbers look like on the window stickers of electric vehicles coming to the US market next year? Trying to find the answer could short-circuit your brain.

As we reported last month, BMW has encountered several problems with its program to evaluate the all-electric Mini E with real-world drivers. The program continues to stumble, as drivers and activists accuse BMW of establishing the program merely to meet regulations, while delivering a sub-standard product. Meanwhile, BMW is planning to deliver the City—its first production electric car—in 2011.

The plan to lease the Mini E—an all-electric version of the Mini Cooper—has hit a snag. The market test of about 500 Mini E cars in New York, New Jersey and California was to include a special 220-volt charging unit so leasees could recharge their cars in 3.5 hours. But the installation of the charging box has to be approved by each local municipality.