


Company plans to sell vehicles with the system by 2015












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RE: Electric is ready?
By 91TTZ on 3/18/2010 5:08:10 PM , Rating: 2
The Volt does not get 230 mpg or even anything close to it. Those numbers are the result of taking advantage of flaws in the proposed EPA testing methodoligy to get an unrealistically high marketing MPG.

RE: Electric is ready?
By Oregonian2 on 3/18/2010 5:15:05 PM , Rating: 2
I still don't understand how they even get any MPG when a car is running on 100% battery, seems like it should be infinity MPG (some miles divided by zero gallons). They still come up with a non-infinity number though.

RE: Electric is ready?
By acronos on 3/18/2010 5:38:54 PM , Rating: 2
The volt running on electric gets infinite mpg. The volt running on gas gets around 50mpg. Since most people drive < 40 miles/ day, that equates to a very high mpg. If you want to somehow include the electric in the mpg, then the cost of electricity also equates to a very high equivalent mpg.

I agree the number is inflated, but not as much as you imply.

RE: Electric is ready?
By porkpie on 3/18/2010 6:36:27 PM , Rating: 2
"I agree the number is inflated, but not as much as you imply."

Using EPA's hybrid methodology and assuming an average commute, it gets around 100mpg. Using its gas engine only, it gets 48 mpg:

Whether or not you consider 230mpg as "inflated" over that, I leave to your opinion.

RE: Electric is ready?
By acronos on 3/18/2010 7:26:28 PM , Rating: 2
Your article refers to "somewhere north of 100". Nobody knows what the real result by the EPA will be, but GM is estimating 230mpg.

Your site also tells you that the average driver would only use gas 15% of the time. Using 48mpg on gas, that calculates out to 48mpg/.15= 320mpg .

How you factor in the electricity is the real question. I would do it like this:
The battery only charges half way so it consumes 7kwh of electricity + charge loses. If we estimate very high 20% charge losses gives 8.4kwh of electricity per trip on average. The cost of electricity where I live is $0.07/kwh, but the average cost in the US is $0.11/kwh. So 8.4kwh*$0.11/kwh= 92 cents per 40 miles for electricity.

.92 $/40 miles
$2.788 $/gallon (us average)
$2.788/$.023 = 121.21 mpg on electric (cost equivalent)

15% * 48mpg + 85% * 121 mpg = 110.05 mpg .

So, yes, north of 100. But also, yes I think that's pretty good.

RE: Electric is ready?
By porkpie on 3/18/2010 9:35:21 PM , Rating: 2
"So, yes, north of 100. But also, yes I think that's pretty good."

Please don't misrepresent the article. It concludes that most drivers would experience somewhere between 48 and 100 mpg:
"While not a bad number," Autoblog Green notes, 48 mpg is "no where near reflective of what the Volt could achieve in the real world for most drivers." If GM's claims about the car are true, the 100mpg number would be closer to most people's actual experience of driving the car.

Myself, I don't know what the Volt will do. But I know relying on the '40 mile' figure is going to yield unrealistic results for many people. Especially in very cold weather, a Volt will probably get less than half that. And even in ideal conditions, the 40 mile range relies heavily on regenerative braking...which is going to require some driver retraining to achieve.

RE: Electric is ready?
By theendofallsongs on 3/18/2010 10:22:08 PM , Rating: 2
Volt is same as any other electric car. When you have to run the heater or the a/c while stuck in city traffic, you're MPG is going to dissapear.

