What is "230" ? MPG? Looks like YES!

[gt40]

So, If I put a full charge on the battery and 1 gallon of gas in the tank, it will go 230 miles?
Or will it need 6 full recharges to go 230 miles?
I'm thinking the later is more correct, but then it would take 6 days to go 230 miles - considering overnight charges.
These numbers have no practical value.

[Dr Mordrid]

It means a combination of the 40 mile charged range + what ever gas it took to finish the distance of the test cycle came out to that figure. The further it runs in range extender mode the lower the number of course, which is why the cumulative number is 'only' 100 mpg.

Total range is pretty much unlimited like any other car because you can just refill the tank and run in range extender mode, so no 6 day trips....sorry.

[gt40]

So as you explain it, if the test cycle is 50 miles, it would run 40 on the battery, and then 10 in range extender mode.
So, it would then use .22 gallons to go the other 10 miles and be designated a 230mpg vehicle, even though it would actually use about 4.5 gallons to do a 230 mile trip.

Again, this is a useless number that will never be achieved in real life.
It's marketing hype that will come back and bite them in the beeehind.

There needs to be two seperate ratings for vehicles like this - something like miles/Kw in full battery mode, and mpg in hybrid mode.

Top Gear would have a hayday testing this thing

[Dr Mordrid]

So, it would then use .22 gallons to go the other 10 miles and be designated a 230mpg vehicle, even though it would actually use about 4.5 gallons to do a 230 mile trip.

Again, this is a useless number that will never be achieved in real life.

I would remind you that well over 80% of Americans only drive 36 miles a day, total. As such the vast majority of driving would use no gasoline at all because it would be within its 40 mile EV range, and this is precisely where such high MPG ratings arise.

I'd say that over 80% of peoples driving is very much real life. It certainly is for us - we only drive 10-15 miles a day between two cars when the wife's school is in session, less in the summer. And we don't even live in 'the city' but the outer suburbs.

Yes, as distance increases it gets less MPG as it spends more time in range extender mode burning fuel - but even then it's very very high.

EREV is IMO better than a pure EV because it eliminates 'charge panic', running out of power far enough from home that you need to charge it overnight, in favor of being able to drive on even with depleted batteries. It also allows for using smaller, cheaper, batteries than a pure EV: 16 kWh vs. a pure EV that needs 50 kWh or more.

[Dr Mordrid]

Update on the Bloomberg story;

Using new methodology being developed, GM said it expects the Volt to consume as little as 25 kilowatt hours per 100 miles in city driving. At the U.S. average cost of electricity, a typical Volt driver would pay about $2.75 for electricity to travel 100 miles, or less than 3 cents per mile, GM said in the statement today.

3 cents per mile in a combined EV + range extender cycle...not bad given a 30 mpg ICE car at current gas prices costs 10 cents per mile, give or take.

Watching the streamed coverage I noticed something not reported, but it should ber.

CEO Fritz Henderson said (correctly) that in the Detroit area the Volt could be recharged during off-peak hours for about 40 cents. This would make the EV mode cost about 1 cent per mile. Even better.