GM wants a 230MPG rating from the EPA

[Mike Dimmick]

Actual fuel economy when gas engine is running: 22.3mpg.

Working: 230mpg is 0.00434 gallons per mile. That means 0.1926 gallons are consumed over the EPA test course of 44.3 miles. Divide that by the 4.3 miles that the gas engine is running to get 0.04479 gallons per mile. Take the reciprocal (1/x) to get miles per gallon: 22.325 mpg.

This isn't surprising given the inefficient engine chosen as the range extender and the inherent losses of the generator->motor transmission path.

[Politburo]

Complete speculation and guessing follows.

I guess this is the standard city test, which would normally result in infinite MPG for the Volt (as described by GM). However the city test starts with a cold engine, and I would guess that the Volt has similar warm-up cycle that a Prius has. 230 mpg therefore is the 11 mile test run divided by the gas used during warm-up. If my guesses are correct, roughly 0.05 gallons were used during warm-up. As a sanity check, anyone know how that compares with the Prius?

[snoctor]

The 230 mpg figure is an eye catcher but doesn't nearly tell the whole story. The EPA needs to come up with a calculation for total energy used to account for the electricity and/or fuel burned on the upcoming (and current) electric cars. You noticed that Nissan didn't announce that the Leaf would get infinite mileage because the car does use energy.

[rfruth]

Saying the Volt will get in the triple digit range is probably more like it

[finman]

buy one? WE (American taxpayers) OWN GM, now, don't we? We should be receiving our GM Volt any day now, free. Of course the billions we've already paid them wasn't free. hmm...who's getting screwed here? Oh and to add to the sarcasm...isn't a MPG rating on a non-existent car zero? wake me when there's one of these Volt thingies for sale...to me...the part owner of a delirious, marketing ploy car company. wow, this gets old...talk and press release after talk and press release. spin. repeat.

[hill]

Originally Posted by jdenenberg

The other fraud here is that the Volt will get about 30 (my estimate) MPG when running on gasoline (after the first 40 miles). In my driving I would be lucky to average 35 MPG with a Volt and I manage 46 in my Prius (lots of long highway trips).

JeffD

You mean "the other fraud" in the sense that GM doesn't even build the car that they've been talking about now for what ... two years? I wonder if this talk will go along as far as hydrogen cars have made talk ... some 35ish years or more. So build it already! The battery technology isn't quite ready? Oh ... so how do you explain the RAV-4EV's running around (the ones that escaped the crusher) that have over 100,000 miles



.

[Chrome]

Originally Posted by Mike Dimmick

Actual fuel economy when gas engine is running: 22.3mpg.

Working: 230mpg is 0.00434 gallons per mile. That means 0.1926 gallons are consumed over the EPA test course of 44.3 miles. Divide that by the 4.3 miles that the gas engine is running to get 0.04479 gallons per mile. Take the reciprocal (1/x) to get miles per gallon: 22.325 mpg.

This isn't surprising given the inefficient engine chosen as the range extender and the inherent losses of the generator->motor transmission path.

I don't think that figurin' is the right way of doing it. You're making certain assumptions. Also, what would the MPG of the Prius be on the EPA's course if the gasoline engine was on all the time? We can't know that.

Originally Posted by jayman

Hmmmm.

So, Toyota Prius = bad

At least according to Bob Lutz and other fools at GM who ran the company up on the rocks.

Now that Government Motors Corporation is sucking on the taxpayer teat, the mythical Volt may become reality. And according to the GM fanboys, Volt = good

Whatever ....

Who said the Prius was bad? It's not a very involving or attractive vehicle, but it serves its purpose extremely well. Can't really fault it for that.

The Volt was well on its way to reality long before we gave GM any more.

Originally Posted by finman

buy one? WE (American taxpayers) OWN GM, now, don't we? We should be receiving our GM Volt any day now, free. Of course the billions we've already paid them wasn't free. hmm...who's getting screwed here? Oh and to add to the sarcasm...isn't a MPG rating on a non-existent car zero? wake me when there's one of these Volt thingies for sale...to me...the part owner of a delirious, marketing ploy car company. wow, this gets old...talk and press release after talk and press release. spin. repeat.

So, should the Japanese, Californians, Mississippians, and Kentuckians all get free Priuses since all of those governments have either given direct aid (Japan) or massive tax breaks to Toyota at the expense of tax payers?

What are your views of the Nissan Leaf? That only exists in press releases. Is Nissan a delirious, marketing ploy car company, too?

[Mike Dimmick]

My post on the other 230mpg thread:

Actual fuel economy when gas engine is running: 22.3mpg.

Working: 230mpg is 0.00434 gallons per mile. That means 0.1926 gallons are consumed over the EPA test course of 44.3 miles. Divide that by the 4.3 miles that the gas engine is running to get 0.04479 gallons per mile. Take the reciprocal (1/x) to get miles per gallon: 22.325 mpg.

This isn't surprising given the inefficient engine chosen as the range extender and the inherent losses of the generator->motor transmission path.

[Chrome]

Originally Posted by hill

You mean "the other fraud" in the sense that GM doesn't even build the car that they've been talking about now for what ... two years? I wonder if this talk will go along as far as hydrogen cars have made talk ... some 35ish years or more. So build it already! The battery technology isn't quite ready? Oh ... so how do you explain the RAV-4EV's running around (the ones that escaped the crusher) that have over 100,000 miles



.

They've built/are building several dozen as we speak. They are already on the road for testing. There are photos and videos of the assembly process and of the test drives.

Jeez.

[finman]

Well, until a vehicle materializes for me to purchase, it's only fun to follow the press releases. I'm an optimist for Nissan. Not so for GMs future. The showroom is where the real world product is needed. The waiting is the hard part...since I've been driving the "future" now for 5 years and counting. a bit of sarcasm. or not.