EPA/GM releases mpg for the Volt.

[fecurtis]

230 mpg city...not too bad.

[jkuo]

Does that factor in the cost of any of the electricity used?

[fecurtis]

Originally Posted by jkuo

Does that factor in the cost of any of the electricity used?

Thats like me asking "Does the EPA factor in the cost of gasoline in their mpg factor?"

The answer is an overwhelming "no".

GM claims that you'd spend about the same amount of money charging the Volt per year as you would running your fridge for a year.

Some studies claimed that if most people charged their cars overnight, it'd actually LOWER the cost of electricity. In fact, Henderson stated himself, that if you were to charge your car overnight during offpeak hours...it'd cost you a nice $0.40 to charge it.

The downside to the car is that most people drive about 20 miles a day...so getting 40 miles on a single charge is overkill as it adds extra unnecessary capacity to the battery which adds cost and weight.

[jkuo]

I was just making the point that electricity has to come from somewhere. It's more efficient to get power from power plants than it is to generate it from an engine, but it's still coming from somewhere. 230mpg makes it sound as if the car is so efficient, but in reality most of the power is coming from another source so of course very little fuel is burned.

[slaytan213]

From CNN Money

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Chevrolet Volt, GM's electric car that's expected to go on sale in late 2010, is projected to get an estimated 230 miles per gallon, the automaker announced Tuesday.

That exceptionally high government mileage rating could give the Volt a major boost. For the first time, car buyers will easily be able to compare electric cars with ordinary gas-powered cars.

"Having a car that gets triple-digit fuel economy can and will be a game changer for us," said GM CEO Fritz Henderson.

Determining fuel economy for an electric car is a tricky matter, and General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) has been working with the Environmental Protection Agency for years on the issue.

Basically, you will be able to drive the Volt for about 40 miles using the lithium-ion batteries. For those driving less than that, gas mileage is essentially unlimited. It is only after 40 miles that the Volt will start using gas.

"Most Volt drivers will operate on a daily basis without having to use a single drop of gas," said Henderson, saying that three out of four drivers travel 40 miles or less a day.
50 mpg? or 5,000?

Fuel economy for hybrid vehicles like the Toyota Prius is displayed in the same way as it is for any other gasoline-powered vehicle. It gets 46 mpg, for example, versus 19 mpg for a V-6 Ford Mustang.

That standard works because all the energy used by the Prius ultimately comes from burning gasoline. The Prius just uses that energy more efficiently than other cars do.

The Chevrolet Volt, on other hand, runs on electricity that comes from two sources -- a battery as well as a gasoline engine.

When gasoline is providing the power, the Volt might get as much as 50 mpg. But that mpg figure would not take into account that the car has already gone 40 miles with no gas at all.

So let's say the car is driven 50 miles in a day. For the first 40 miles, no gas is used and during the last 10 miles, 0.2 gallons are used. That's the equivalent of 250 miles per gallon. But, if the driver continues on to 80 miles, total fuel economy would drop to about 100 mpg. And if the driver goes 300 miles, the fuel economy would be just 62.5 mpg.

The Volt will need to plugged in at night to recharge. The company said it estimates it will need 10 kilowatt hours for the recharge necessary to travel 40 miles. That should cost a total of about 40 cents at off-peak electricity rates in Detroit, Henderson said.

[miltoda]

Originally Posted by fecurtis

The downside to the car is that most people drive about 20 miles a day...so getting 40 miles on a single charge is overkill as it adds extra unnecessary capacity to the battery which adds cost and weight.

It much easier on LiOn batteries to charge from a semi-charged state, charging a completely dead battery can cause a lot of heat due a prolonged high charge rate before it goes to trickle charge the last 5% of the capacity.

Plus, i bet that the 40 miles is only if you don't have the radio cranked and the AC off. We're so use to getting all of our gadgets power for basically free from the alternator when now we have to be conscience about what we're using while driving in EC mode.

I wouldn't be surprised that in the FL heat, that 40 miles is more like 25-30.

[slaytan213]

Originally Posted by miltoda

It much easier on LiOn batteries to charge from a semi-charged state, charging a completely dead battery can cause a lot of heat due a prolonged high charge rate before it goes to trickle charge the last 5% of the capacity.

Plus, i bet that the 40 miles is only if you don't have the radio cranked and the AC off. We're so use to getting all of our gadgets power for basically free from the alternator when now we have to be conscience about what we're using while driving in EC mode.

I wouldn't be surprised that in the FL heat, that 40 miles is more like 25-30.

I wonder what the impact would be on the Volt if you swap out the Li-Ion batteries with Li-Po batteries

[vhtran]

I'll mod that car with the battery in the terminator =)

[SpudRacer]

That 230 mpg claim is GM marketing hype. The EPA has already gone on record with a statement that they have not tested the Volt and have no idea what EPA rating it will receive. Also, GM has not disclosed the math they used to calculate the claimed 230 mpg. So, for right now the claim is good for generating some press buzz and not a lot else. And as someone else noted, the batteries don't do well in temperature extremes. Florida and Arizona residents will have one set of problems and owners in Maine and Montana will have a different set of problems.