Word: volts
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...Chevy Volt's 230 m.p.g. sounds good, but what about 60 m.p.k. or 25 kWh/100m? The array of advanced car technologies hitting the consumer marketplace has brought enough boasts, confusion and questions to fill a gas-guzzling SUV's cargo hold...
...Fritz Henderson announced this week that the company's much anticipated Chevy Volt (half electric, half fossil fuel) is the undisputed winner in the miles-per-gallon race, claiming that under new EPA guidelines the Volt will hit 230 miles per gallon (city), the first car to ever earn triple-digit fuel efficiency. Not to be outdone, Nissan fired back a few days later to its Twitter base of fans that its just-announced all-electric Nissan Leaf would be rated at 367 m.p.g., also using EPA guidelines. (See the 50 worst cars of all time...
...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 cars from...
...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...
...Here's the breakdown: The 230-m.p.g. number, according to GM's Frank Weber, global-vehicle-line executive for the Volt, is a measurement of the car's "city-driving cycle" - that's the 40 miles it can go without gas, plus one daily electric recharge, plus a little extra help from the gasoline it might need to continue to charge its batteries when they get low during driving in the city. It's basically measuring the Volt's electric-only-mode (with some help) mileage capacity. If the Volt got out on the highway - where it's powered largely...