📰 Auto News Chevy Volt rated at 230 MPG city

[M@]

Anyone else see this?

Saw a few articles pop up on Google news today at work....

I'd like to know the test procedure for this stuff, they might as well have just called it infinite MPG in-town...

Click to read more...

 

[02BlueGT]

Take that Prius

 

[Diavolo]

The figure x amount of your trips are going to be under 40 miles (the range of the battery). Then eventually you will travel 60 miles (or whatever) so that is 20 miles on the petrol engine.

they are going to need a different system for measuring efficiency for plug in hybrids.

 

[Mook]

hold on there professor

Apparently, we're not the only ones trying to figure out the exact methodology that was used to determine the supposed 230 mile per gallon city rating claimed by General Motors for the upcoming Chevy Volt. In response to a query from the boys at Green Car Advisor, the EPA issued the following statement:

EPA has not tested a Chevy Volt and therefore cannot confirm the fuel economy values claimed by GM. EPA does applaud GM's commitment to designing and building the car of the future - an American-made car that will save families money, significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create good-paying American jobs. We're proud to see American companies and American workers leading the world in the clean energy innovations that will shape the 21st century economy.

Although it deserves noting that GM CEO Fritz Henderson didn't exactly say the 230 mpg rating was an official figure from the EPA, it sure is being bandied about as if it were gospel in the huge marketing campaign launched ahead of today's announcement.

When contacted for comment, GM told AutoblogGreen that the EPA is not backing away from the 230 numbers and that it's unlikely that the EPA will come out with a much lower number when they actually get to run a Volt through the official cycle. Further, GM believes that coming out with the 230 rating at this point in time is one way to change people's perception of what kind of car the Volt is.

 

[02BlueGT]

The problem is , both EPA test cycles are under 40 miles, si it would be infinite if they just ran the standard test, this is probably the result of some over-complicated equation weighing the average drive length vs how much time the car will be on gas/ on electricity, and the rating scaled as such..... then again, it could just be them running the tests, and only seeming the gas engine on at the end of the Highway test

 

[M@]

right...I know HOW they figured it, but it seems pretty subjective.

I agree that they need a different rating for plug-ins. Even just publishing their battery-only travel distances, in a more real-world test than just best-case flat roads, no stops travel.

 

[b00ya]

thats great it gets tht kinda mileage but it starts at 40k from what i saw on the news today. Thats a good chunk of change for a electric chevy

 

[Angus]

going downhill, with a sail, on a car carrier, on a treadmill.

come on?

 

[Bru]

This number is only for the city rating, which should be high considering it goes 40 miles on an electric charge. The thing is, there's no other plug-in to compare it to seeing as current hybrids only travel 1 mile or so on electric power. GM and the EPA are working together to find methodology to rate these cars and GM in a ballsy move decided to announce their initial, unofficial numbers.

 

[99PONTIACGP]

Its crazy that a car would get 230MPG but that price tag would be a deal breaker. No thanks, good idea though

 

[framos242]

And it's going to cost you a mere $40K....

 

[IDAFC21]

going downhill, with a sail, on a car carrier, on a treadmill.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/89206/the-tonight-show-with-conan-obrien-conan-questions-gm

 

[Angus]

 

[Ford Tempo Fan]

No it doesn't. I bet you anything, the way Americans drive, you won't be getting more then 40-45MPG all said and done. The problem being, most Americans don't drive under 40 miles a day, and they all drive like dumb ass pricks.

 

[99PONTIACGP]

No it doesn't. I bet you anything, the way Americans drive, you won't be getting more then 40-45MPG all said and done. The problem being, most Americans don't drive under 40 miles a day, and they all drive like dumb ass pricks.

 

[Bru]

No it doesn't. I bet you anything, the way Americans drive, you won't be getting more then 40-45MPG all said and done. The problem being, most Americans don't drive under 40 miles a day, and they all drive like dumb ass pricks.

Not true. 8/10 Mericans are said to drive less than 40 miles per day.

 

[andcbii]

The figure x amount of your trips are going to be under 40 miles (the range of the battery). Then eventually you will travel 60 miles (or whatever) so that is 20 miles on the petrol engine.

they are going to need a different system for measuring efficiency for plug in hybrids.

yea but doesn't the engine just charge the battery? I though the engine in the volt didn't actually connect to the wheels and just acted like a generator. 230 seams like a reasonable number to me

 

[Ford Tempo Fan]

Not true. 8/10 Mericans are said to drive less than 40 miles per day.

Emphasis on 'are said'. Because I don't know one of them. Excluding those who lived in the Jersey or NYC, who drove less than 40 miles on weekdays but drove easily 100 miles to get to their weekend homes in Litchfield and Kent back in my native land of Connecticut.

Fuckin' related: I've put close to 500 miles on the old Ford Tempo (averaging 33.1MPG, mostly highway driving) in the past two days.

 

[andcbii]

Emphasis on 'are said'. Because I don't know one of them. Excluding those who lived in the Jersey or NYC, who drove less than 40 miles on weekdays but drove easily 100 miles to get to their weekend homes in Litchfield and Kent back in my native land of Connecticut.

Fuckin' related: I've put close to 500 miles on the old Ford Tempo (averaging 33.1MPG, mostly highway driving) in the past two days.

i can go to and from work in under 40 miles. Think of all the people who take the train into the city. I doubt they drive 40+ miles to get to the train station. I'm betting most people don't have alot of 40+ mile trips daily.

 

[Bru]

Emphasis on 'are said'. Because I don't know one of them. Excluding those who lived in the Jersey or NYC, who drove less than 40 miles on weekdays but drove easily 100 miles to get to their weekend homes in Litchfield and Kent back in my native land of Connecticut.

Fuckin' related: I've put close to 500 miles on the old Ford Tempo (averaging 33.1MPG, mostly highway driving) in the past two days.

Well i guess because you don't drive less than 40 miles per day then it must not be true

And that stat is courtesy of the Department of Transportation.

 

[Ford Tempo Fan]

i can go to and from work in under 40 miles. Think of all the people who take the train into the city. I doubt they drive 40+ miles to get to the train station. I'm betting most people don't have alot of 40+ mile trips daily.

I guess you're right. I just don't like a car that wants you to drive less, not more. Volt strikes me as the anti-car, standing in the way everything from the Corvette to the Tempo stands for.

 

[Ford Tempo Fan]

BTW: Just think of all the high mileage company cars, and the small business owner like my dad or I who put insane mileage on their cars.

 

[andcbii]

I guess you're right. I just don't like a car that wants you to drive less, not more. Volt strikes me as the anti-car, standing in the way everything from the Corvette to the Tempo stands for.

If anything the volt lets you drive more. It's so cheap to operate that you could drive all day everyday and not break the bank.

 

[Ford Tempo Fan]

If anything the volt lets you drive more. It's so cheap to operate that you could drive all day everyday and not break the bank.

As long as you don't drive more than 40 miles, and make sure you charge it daily. Otherwise, you'll be killing it. This goes back to the problem with American's driving skillz. The Volt, indeed all hybrids, are designed to be driven in a calm, frugal, forgiving manner. Now, how many drivers actually drive that way? I dunno' if you saw it, but Top Gear did sort of a test of this theory. Wherein, a Toyota Prius was driving aggressively and a BMW M3 was driven semi-slowly. The M3 achieved higher fuel economy figures than the Prius as an end result.

I foresee the same thing happening with the eco-minded Volt when its behind the hands of some dumb ass trying to get through New Haven at rush hour.

 

[Ford Tempo Fan]

btw, I totally get your logic. I feel much more free to drive the Tempo around then my truck, but then I drive like a little old lady 99% of the time, which is why I'm able to achieve such high MPG figures from a car rated at 26MPG highway. Now, that one time I do let the hammer down and top the speedo or am in a rush to get somewhere by some time, my fuel figures drop incredibly. 10MPG or more.