Chevy Volt Rated At 230 mpg In the City

necro81 writes "General Motors, emerging from bankruptcy, today announced that its upcoming plug-in hybrid vehicle, the Volt, will have an EPA rating of 230 mpg for city driving (about 98 km/L). The unprecedented rating, the first in triple digits, is the result of a new (draft) methodology for calculating the 'gas' mileage for vehicles that operate primarily or extensively on electricity. The Volt, due out late next year, can drive approximately 40 miles on its Li-Ion battery pack, after which a gasoline engine kicks in to provide additional electricity to charge the battery. Running off the gasoline engine yields approximately 50 mpg. Of course, the devil's in the details, because the conversion of grid-based electricity to gasoline-mileage is imprecise." Now we know the meaning of the mysterious "230" viral marketing campaign.

Comments

Cost Per Mile

[rehtonAesoohC]

So, they've released that it supposedly gets 230 miles per gallon, but that doesn't translate into savings...

It's just like the people who drive "green" cars like the Prius. Do they not realize that the car will only run for about 100,000 miles before they have to replace some ridiculously expensive component? "But it's for the environment!" they'll claim. So the majority of consumers in the USA are concerned with "the environment" over their pocketbook? I think not...

The reality is that this Chevy Volt will have some absurdly high cost per mile, compared with an equivalent "gas-guzzling" sedan, but because of the "green" frenzy, people will buy it so they can tell all their friends that they are doing good for their grandkids.

Re:MPG is outdated when you are using grid power

[nine-times]

I understand why you want to focus on CO2 emissions, but that's hardly the only bad stuff that comes out of car exhaust.

This is what bothers me about obsessing over the global warming debate. I have no reason to deny that global warming is bad, but it's certainly not our only problem. It's not very responsible to act like pollution is perfectly fine, just so long as it doesn't eject CO2 into the air. Now you may want to argue that CO2 is our biggest problem, and that may even be true. However, it's also possible that there is some other much more serious problem that we simply haven't noticed yet, or even if we have noticed, we may be underestimating the danger it presents.

I remember a few short years ago, we were all freaking out about the ozone layer. Now that's pretty well fixed, and we're all freaking out about CO2. Who knows, maybe in a few years, we'll all be freaking out about something else. I think we should be striving for efficiency of energy use and seeking to make our production and consumption have the lowest possible impact on our environment.

Re:Vaporware

[LandDolphin]

Your bike has a hidden cost; looking like a dork.