Word: epa
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...EPA's methodology behind the Volt's eye-popping 230-m.p.g. rating, and those of other so-called extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), is still under wraps - though GM and others claim to be using it - and the agency says it can't comment since it has not yet tested the Volt. In the meantime, the Society of Auto Engineers continues to tinker with its new hybrid test protocols. It has a lot of automotive fans scratching their heads about the recent Volt m.p.g. claims and how pure-electric vehicles and hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicles stack up. (See the best...
...EPA's National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich., says it's revising its formulas to better reflect real-world representations of "driving cycles": that is, up hills, down hills, acceleration rates, city miles and highway miles - the driving conditions that affect fuel efficiency or, in the case of hybrids and electric cars, how long the battery will last. This is why the EPA says it "cannot confirm" GM's mileage claims but is happy the company is innovating such fuel-efficient cars...
...With the Volt, GM is among the first to make some marketing hay from the unreleased EPA revisions, which evidently take into account onboard gasoline generators like the Volt's. Specifically, GM bases its 230-m.p.g. boast on a blend of the Volt's electric-only mode - which has a 40-mile-range limit - and charge-sustaining mode, with its 1.4-L electric generator running. (The generator is a small gas-powered engine that keeps the batteries charged while the car is being driven, hence the "extended range...
...EPA's new EREV testing process, like the one that California's Air Resources Board (ARB) uses, may not actually measure gasoline usage at all but rather kilowatt hours per 100 miles, or kWh/100m. That figure is converted into miles per gallon, which effectively makes miles per gallon irrelevant...
...says the EPA will weight plug-in electric vehicles as traveling more city miles than highway miles on only electricity, presumably figuring that people buy electric cars primarily for local driving. GM expects the Volt to consume 25 kilowatt hours per 100 miles of city driving. At the U.S. average cost of electricity (approximately 11 cents per kWh), a typical Volt driver would pay about $2.75 for enough electricity to travel 100 miles, or less than 3 cents per mile. (Conversely, a gasoline-powered car that gets 20 m.p.g., for which the driver pays $3 per gallon...