Comments on: The Chevy Volt’s 230 MPG Rating. What Does It Mean?

By: JeannaOkoren

JeannaOkoren — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:55:32 +0000

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By: OPINION

OPINION — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:57:27 +0000

It’s really funny how people have the audacity to even judge and act like they knew a thing about this vehicle before it even came out and now that it’s out all the facts are proven and it runs off gas after the electric battery runs down so a person is not stranded.Also to charge this vehicle you just need a standard outlet rather than a “charging station” With a $7,500 tax credit the vehicle actually isn’t a full 40k but it looks and rides a whole lot better than the other electric cars and actually has room if you have a family. This vehicle doesn’t look like some want to be space vehicle. I totally agree with buying American products. Support YOUR country!

By: Common Sense...

Common Sense... — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 01:20:15 +0000

I know this is an Old thread.

But the $40K car appeal to Young Drivers? 16? Minium wage it would take 5 Years of saving all of his income (minus) taxes to buy it...

So at 21 He/She can buy a Volt? (of course the price will go up in 5 years so maybe at 24 years he/she can buy it?)

Maybe young they mean, Spoild Brats, or Young as in over 45?
I know the term young is relative...

And I love the Numbers can Confuse buyers?
If you have 40K to buy a car, you are either smart enough to figure it out, or the money given to you, which you wouldn't care about numbers anyway.

I personally would love this car, but at 40K vs a Prius at 25K? hands Down Prius WINS! 15K Extra 15 YEARS Plus Mainteance on the Prius. Sorry Chevy, Need to Lower the Price about 12K at least and if you want a "YOUNG" Driver to look at it you need to lower it by 30K...

By: alancamp

alancamp — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:30:24 +0000

The EPA needs a new rating for Electric Cars, Extended Range Cars and Hybrid Cars. Using a MPG for electric power or ‘equivalent’ is illogical. We will need a separate Miles Per KW(MPkw) for electric and MPG for petro. Regenerated electricity from braking would only reduce the kw needed, without the need to calculate the difference between regenerated and plug in electricity. All we care about is what it will cost to drive X number of miles on electric OR using petro in the city, or on the highway.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:43:45 +0000

230MPG debunked: http://dontlistentoalgore.blogspot.com/2009/08/

By: Lewis Downey

Lewis Downey — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:11:26 +0000

@ex-EV1 driver
It is not my intent to besmirch the reputation of the Volt. My intent is pretty much the opposite; I am throwing the Volt into the mix of cars I will consider purchasing as a replacement for our 15-yr-old Saturn SC2. I am also pulling for the the Aircar to do something in the U.S. market.

The ability to install solar panels or a windmill and refuel an EV with home-generated electricity would be a great plus for me. As photovoltaics advance that option might even become practical to implement on my budget.

However on the financial end of considerations, I was struck by the variations in relative cost efficiency of driving one car or the other in different geographic locations -- even nearby locations such as Raleigh, NC vs. Durham, NC. (The table below is simply nicer formatting for the same numbers as my previous comment, plus a national average. )

Approx. MPG-$-Equivalent for Chevy Volt
National Avg	57.10 MPG-$-Equiv
NYC, NY	35.33 MPG-$-Equiv
Burlington, VT	48.98 MPG-$-Equiv
Raleigh, NC	56.26 MPG-$-Equiv
Durham, NC	71.02 MPG-$-Equiv
Seattle, WA	110.42 MPG-$-Equiv

Here is a question. Starting from scratch, how much would it cost to buy the minimum photovoltaic system that would generate and store enough electricity to refuel the Volt everyday? If I can come up with a reliable number, I'll amortize the cost over 5 or 10 years and regard that as a rough cost of fuel for the life of the car. I am curious how that number might compare with buying electricity off of the grid. PV generated electricity should be a low-carbon-footprint fuel. I could be persuaded to pay a bit extra for that -- but how much extra are we talking about? The goal would be to refuel the car -- not much more; thanks for any insights or guidance in that regard!

By: ex-EV1 driver

ex-EV1 driver — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 17:31:23 +0000

@Lewis Downey
Excellent calculations from a financial sense. As you see, the Volt only barely exceeds the economy of a Prius today and clearly, the additional price of the vehicle probably won't offset the fuel costs very soon. Of course, if you take vehicle cost into account, you should buy a very old, used Honda Civic for $500 and it will blow the Prius away, as will even a new Kia or Chevy Aveo.
If, however, you look at other benefits of the plug-in capabilityof the volt, you'll see that it is attractive for many (although not all):
- Most will rarely suffer the inconvenience, that most take for granted today, of driving to a gas station
- Very infrequent oil changes for most people (probably once per year because you're still carrying that nasty ICE)
- Much less frequent brake repairs (maybe every 200,000 miles)
- less environmental impact to the planet (only good if you care about such things)
- You'll have a choice of fuel, ie gas or electricity boycotts because of prices will actually work.
- With the additional purchase of solar cells on your roof, you actually can be energy independent and not care if the price of gas or electicity jumps up.

@Halo9x
When was the last time you drove 390 miles between stops for a few hours? During those stops you could easily have added about 3-6 miles of battery range for every hour you were stopped. 390 miles at 60 mph is 6.5 hours. Even on our infrequent long-distance trip, most of us like to stop at least every 4 hours to tend to our biological needs. If we chose to add 20 or so additional miles of eV range at these stops we increase our range for these very infrequent trips anyway.
The point of the Volt, however, is to optimize fuel economy and convenience for the majority of our needs while still being very good for our regular needs.
Additionally, if GM does it correctly (which is yet to be seen), they should be able to get much better than 50 mpg with their drivetrain, even on gasoline alone. With a small ICE running only in its most optimal conditions and using the electric motor to absorb the dynamics of the road, 100 mpg should be achieveable since the ICE can be essentially Pulse and glide hypermiling without inconveniencing the driver.

By: Halo9x

Halo9x — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 05:00:12 +0000

I drive an '07 Prius and with my 11.9 gallon gas tank I can get over 600 mile range on the highway with 51 MPG. The best the Volt can do is 350 assuming 50 mpg and its tiny 7 gallon tank. Add 40 miles for the pure electric and the total is 390 miles driving range before you runout of gas and electricity.
The 50 miles per gallon was based on an earlier article I read. I have looked and still can't find how they came up with the "230" mpg number. Maybe that is the range number they came up with.
The Prius battery has been demonstrated to last at least to 250,000 miles with no significant degradation. Andrew Grant did this using an original Prius as a Taxi Cab in Canada. If the Volt battery is only good for 100,000 miles or 10 years then the Prius still has an advantage.
Here's a reality check. One, at $40K you would have to hang on to the car for at least 10 years just to recoup the cost of the vehicle. If you trade in the car how much are you going to get for it? No one is going to buy a used car where the battery is only going to be good for a few years.
Two, how many 16-35 year olds are going to be able to afford a $40,000 car? At that price you are nearing Mercedes Benz territory. Another question to ask is how long are you going to half to drive the car in order to make it economically feasible to drive.
Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of going electric, but the reality is that it is going to be the rich who drive this car. Now, if you could trade in the battery and get a new one (financed of course) then that might prove cheaper than buying a whole new car. However, other things wear out: seats, LCD screens and other items that would be expensive to replace. So you would have to factor that in. Even the third most expensive Prius is much more affordable than the Volt and it has a solar panel available ($3K option) to air condition your car for you.

By: RKRB

RKRB — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 04:52:50 +0000

-This recalls GM's Vega 2300, Citation, Cadillac diesels, Chevette, Fiero, EV-1, Hummer, Saturn, Solstice, Cobalt, GM's recent series hybrids, and all the other eagerly anticipated "new GM" designs that have either dismally failed to live up to standards or set new records for product recalls and time in the shop.

-To read how the EPA arrives at its numbers, check out the September Car and Driver, "The Truth A8out EPA Numb3rs." The article indicates how the EPA manages the difficult task of mileage figures. For instance, how do you rate a car that has "Economy" versus "Sport" settings on the gearbox, and how do you manage the plethora of new models, settings, and options that are available? The article makes the EPA figures considerably more intelligible.

-For those who choose to Buy American, US workers already build good hybrids with the Fusion and Camry.

By: Lewis Downey

Lewis Downey — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:41:48 +0000

I became interested in comparing the distance with I could drive a Volt for the cost of a gallon of regular gas purchased locally. I am arguably comparing the Volt to a Prius (using 50 MPG as a benchmark for comparison).

I show the essence of the calculations here http://www.cicada.com/lhd/ev2mpg.html but the bottom line is that on a dollar-to-dollar basis, it looks like in Raleigh, NC the Volt will go about 56 miles on the amount of electricity that can be purchased with the amount of money required to buy a gallon of gas.

I think of the figure as the ‘Local-MPG-$-Equivalent’. Maybe the figure is poorly named and maybe it is not of interest to others, but it is of considerable interest to me!

I ran similar calculations for other locations (Durham, NC 76.7 miles; NYC, NY 35.33 miles; Seattle, WA 172 miles [using the minimum possible charge for electricity -- 110 miles using a more realistic figure for the cost of electricity], Burlington, VT 48.98 miles)

The figures rely on at least these assumptions: the batteries never need to be replaced and the electricity necessary to recharge them is transferred from the electric grid to the battery with perfect efficiency. That is all fine to me; I just wanted to know on a day to day basis how far could I go on the amount of money it would take to buy a gallon of gas.