GM Volt to deliver three-figure fuel economy
Officially, 230 miles on a US gallon of fuel
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Leccy Tech A rather curious advert featuring the number 23 and a smiling power socket has appeared in North America over the past few weeks. Until today, nobody knew what it meant.
GM's Volt: first three-digit fuel economy rating?
During a webcast today, General Motors’ President, Fritz Henderson, explained that 230 is the official miles-per-gallon urban fuel economy rating for the upcoming range-extended hybrid Chevrolet Volt. That's 276mpg in Imperial units, by the way.
Either way, it's the first time a car has gain a three-digit fuel economy rating.
The figure – apparently a first of its kind for a vehicle of this type – comes courtesy of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) newly developed testing methodology for such cars.
Plug-in hybrids will go for a certain distance – 40 miles in the case of the Volt - on battery power before a small internal combustion engine fires up to drive a generator that, in turn, recharges the battery pack and powers the electric drive motors.
The EPA urban scheme assumes low-range driving - school runs and the like - ensuring plenty of opportunities to top up the battery off the mains overnight or while the owner's at work.
GM didn't say what the Volt's highway or combined fuel economy figures are but Henderson did say he expects the latter to stretch to three digits, so that's 100 miles per US gallon at the very least. ®
COMMENTS
re: Volt Facts
Cost of replacing the battery pack after a few hundred cycles?
Last time I figured out the costs, the amortised cost per mile of replacing a battery pack was almost as much as the cost of refueling a diesel engine.
The value of buying a hybrid comes from the greenie smugness and is not based on fact.
@The First Dave
They're yanks!
These are the people who put 6 Litre petrol engines in oversized pickup trucks, where a decent 2 Litre Common Rail or PD Turbo Diesel would be more than enough. (And Produce about a quarter of the CO2, and use less than half as much fuel, and have more Torque)
The Yanks use 20 Year old Engine technology, and the only way they can get the engines more powerful is to increase the displacemnet.
Also, I imagine that if they advertised it as having a 600cc engine in it, none of the ill informed public would buy one.
Still want one...
...but as it's only a 4-seater it'll not be replacing my Vectra (need 5)
Oh, and the fuel calc isn't fully official - yet - as it uses an unratified method of calculating equivalent values
http://gm-volt.com/2009/08/12/how-the-volts-230-mpg-designation-was-calculated/
But, since it is EPA-badged it'll probably become the way in which these sorts of things are compared; official MPG is only there for comparison - as others have mentioned, it bears only a passing resemblance to what different drivers achieve.
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