GM says new Volt to get 230 mpg in city driving
20 replies
ILPhinFan88Luxury BoxOPGM says new Volt to get 230 mpg in city driving
WARREN, Mich. – General Motors Corp. said Tuesday its Chevrolet Volt rechargeable electric car should get 230 miles per gallon of gasoline in city driving, more than four times the mileage of the current champion, the Toyota Prius.
The Volt is powered by an electric motor and a battery pack with a 40-mile range. After that, a small internal combustion engine kicks in to generate electricity for a total range of 300 miles. The battery pack can be recharged from a standard home outlet.
GM came up with the 230-mile figure in early tests using draft guidelines from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for calculating the mileage of extended range electric vehicles, said Tony Posawatz, GM's vehicle line director for the Volt.
If the figure is confirmed by the EPA, which does the tests for the mileage posted on new car door stickers, the Volt would be the first car to exceed triple-digit gas mileage, Posawatz said.
GM has produced about 30 Volts so far and is making 10 a week, CEO Fritz Henderson said during a presentation of the vehicle at the company's technical center in the Detroit suburb of Warren.
Henderson said charging the volt will cost about 40 cents a day.
"The EPA labels can and will be a game changer for us," he said.
Most automakers are working similar plug-in designs, but GM could be the leader with the Volt, which is due in showrooms late in 2010.
Toyota's Prius, the most efficient car now sold in the U.S., gets 48 miles per gallon of gas. It is a gas-electric hybrid that runs on a small internal combustion engine assisted by a battery-powered electric motor to save gasoline.
The first-generation Volt is expected to cost near $40,000, making it cost-prohibitive to many people even if gasoline returns to $4 per gallon. The price is expected to drop with future generations of the Volt, but GM has said government tax credits and the savings on fuel could make it cost-effective, especially at 230 miles per gallon.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090811/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gm_volt_mileage
UltraForum Veteranthat price is rediculous. Just more of the auto market dragging their feet with gasoline alternatives IMO.
rafaelForum VeteranPersonally, I find the plug in tech to be the most useful. 300 miles is more than enough range for my typical drives. And if I can convert the house to solar (I live in a desert) than I may not have to pay for the charging either.
TrueDolFanNew Member"Ultra wrote:
that price is rediculous. Just more of the auto market dragging their feet with gasoline alternatives IMO.
Agreed on the price.
But I don't believe that they aren't making this car affordable because they still want to sell more "regular" cars, or anything like that. I think that the big auto manufacturers would LOVE to make a car like this and sell it for $20K and turn a decent profit, but they just can't right now.
Computers were like $10K when they first came out. These types of cars will be the norm in a matter of 10-15 years, when they become reasonably priced for the consumer, and profitable for the manufacturer.
Fin DForum VeteranI'd be all for a GM bailout every decade if it meant car companies could give me 230 miles to the gallon for a $20,000 car.
like2godLuxury BoxI wonder if this car will come with the same "buyer beware" warning that the Nissan Leaf now has hanging around its neck, that is that they sell you the car but lease you the battery pack and fluctuate the price according to gas prices so you are in effect still paying out the ass to drive your car. Nothing cost effective there, not that electric cars really are, they just shift the dependence from gas to coal (remember, they have to recharge on fossil fuels unless you have the bucks to buy solar panels), but the Leaf takes it to a new level of douchebaggery IMO.
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UltraForum Veteran"TrueDolFan wrote:
These types of cars will be the norm in a matter of 10-15 years, when they become reasonably priced for the consumer, and profitable for the manufacturer.
or when we are low on oil :shifty: but seriously, if they made more than 10 a week maybe we'd get some economies of scale working and lower the **** price.
unluckylucianoNew Member"Ultra wrote:
or when we are low on oil :shifty: but seriously, if they made more than 10 a week maybe we'd get some economies of scale working and lower the **** price.
yeah but you are assuming people will buy the car. technology is always consumer driven and will continue to do so. if these companies made a ton of these cars, then no one bought them, they'd go under.............more so.
thanks to VO for the sick ass sigs. 
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SilverphinForum Veteran230 Miles Per Gallon? Honestly, I wouldn't even fill the gas tank. One gallon, and I'm good for the week.
No one is going to buy it. Did you see the price of the car. Plus it is American made it will break down before you go through the first tank of gas
Philter25New MemberThere are some potential shenenagins on how GM came up with that number. GM needs the EPA to confirm their 230 mpg or else no one is going to buy the car for 40k.
I read about this a month ago, and GM didnt use the normal EPA way of calculating fuel economy and needed the EPA to agree with their method of calculating it.
TJamesW_PhinfanNew Member"like2god wrote:
I wonder if this car will come with the same "buyer beware" warning that the Nissan Leaf now has hanging around its neck, that is that they sell you the car but lease you the battery pack and fluctuate the price according to gas prices so you are in effect still paying out the ass to drive your car. Nothing cost effective there, not that electric cars really are, they just shift the dependence from gas to coal (remember, they have to recharge on fossil fuels unless you have the bucks to buy solar panels), but the Leaf takes it to a new level of douchebaggery IMO.
Holy crap that sucks. What a bunch of scum bags.
As for the Volt there was a TV news story on it the other day and they showed video of it struggling to go up a hill. It may have been early testing that they have addressed I only caught bits and pieces of the story.
I'm a bit curious about the third party charging stations.
As skeptical as I am, I am still glad to see some effort being made for alternate systems.
UltraForum VeteranI think we need to go the Hydrogen route. From what I've seen (which is not a lot) it would get roughly the same mileage as gas and could be fitted into the existing infrastructure of our gas stations.
rafaelForum VeteranMost car company people believe that the electric/gas hybrid (in its various incarnations) will be the intermediate step to whatever replaces oil. It seems like 2010 will bring several new options to the market.
dolphan117Luxury BoxI think its great that stuff like this is being produced, IMO its sensible environmentalism.... That being said we are still a ways away from this being being practical for the average consumer even if it works, and drivers are going to demand a car that has a little power as well as the fuel economy. If it struggles to go up steep hills people wont buy it.
The other thing that bothers me about all these electric cars is how reliable they are. I work in the office of a shop and as the EPA has clamped down on emission its forced auto makers to put more and more electronics into cars to make them more fuel efficient.... Which is great on the surface, but it also adds a bunch of electronics that can and do fail, some if which are expensive to replace. Given that this is a kinda new technology I just wonder how reliable it will be and what the cost of ownership will be like.
I mean its great to save a lot of money on gas but if you have to replace modules at $1,500 or $2,000 a pop then you are handing the money saved back in maintenance costs. That sounds high but given that this is a new technology its going to have to be maintained at a dealership with its $80+ an hour rate. What kind of warranty they give you would obviously be a big factor.
Not trying to dump on this idea, because like I said, I think its great, and I think technology like this is really the answer to the long term debate about our dependence on oil.... I just think we are are still a ways away from it being practical for most people.
unluckylucianoNew Member"Ultra wrote:
I think we need to go the Hydrogen route. From what I've seen (which is not a lot) it would get roughly the same mileage as gas and could be fitted into the existing infrastructure of our gas stations.
hydrogen should be more efficient, and easier to produce from what I remember..........
thanks to VO for the sick ass sigs.
Charlie: If you're not as educated or as informed what you do is you start your own party and you yell the loudest.
BigDogsHuntNew Member
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Dol-Fan DupreeForum Veteran"RonnieBrownTown wrote:
No one is going to buy it. Did you see the price of the car. Plus it is American made it will break down before you go through the first tank of gas
I believe you underestimate middle class hippies. I can see a lot of Microsoft employees buying this car
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"Dol-Fan Dupree wrote:
I believe you underestimate middle class hippies. I can see a lot of Microsoft employees buying this car
No they wont they are saving for this.
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NaboCaneNew MemberAnd besides, even by the same flawed measure, Chevy still can't beat the Japanese:
Nissan EV Claims 367 MPGe, Tells Volt To Shove it
Nissan's taking it to Chevy's 230 MPG Volt "rating" with the recently-revealed Leaf EV's 367 MPGe ("e" means "equivalent" MPG as it's all-electric) "rating." Which standard's better? Nobody knows. But we so love a good automaker PR standards slap-fight! (Autoweek)
Yea American car makers are way behind