Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Fuel Efficiency

GM Claims a 230 MPG Volt — Is it For Real?

1:53 PM EDT on August 11, 2009

General Motors made a media splash this morning by announcing that its Chevy Volt would get 230 miles per gallon in city driving, but the claim quickly began proving little more than a broad estimate.

chevy_volt_230mpg.03.jpgThe stage for GM's announcement today. (Photo: CNN)

GM based its Volt claim on draft rules from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The agency promptly noted that the 230-mpg estimate -- which does not include less fuel-efficient highway driving -- could not be confirmed in a statement to the AP.

So how did GM obtain its eye-popping number? The plug-in hybrid Volt can travel for 40 miles using electric battery power before switching to a gasoline engine as it recharges. The 230-mpg estimate comes from an assumption that the majority of drivers would travel in the neighborhood of 50 miles per day.

As the distance traveled rises, the Volt's fuel-efficiency would shrink, as CNN points out: a 300-mile trip would get about 62.5 mpg. (Electric high-speed rail in Europe, by contrast, gets upwards of 300 passenger-miles per gallon for trips of a similar distance.)

In an unwitting illustration of the car's uncertain efficiency, the Washington Post's Green blog headlined one post: "The EPA Gives Could Give the Chevy Volt a 230 MPG Rating. What?"

Regardless of its veracity, the 230-mpg claim gives GM the new marketing tool it craves to help boost its prospects of repaying $50 billion in government loans by 2015. Whether Volt sales will begin sales next year as planned, however, remains to be seen.

In a regulatory update filed last week but caught by Bloomberg, GM admitted that the plug-in hybrid technology "has not yet proven to be commercially viable." GM continued:

Our competitors and others are pursuing similartechnologies and other competing technologies, in some caseswith more money available There can be noassurance that they will not acquire similar or superiortechnologies sooner than we do.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Distracted Off-Duty Cop Jumped Curb and Killed Chicago Woman On Sidewalk

It's infuriating that a person who was entrusted to help keep the public safe was reckless enough to take her eyes off the road while driving to pick up a phone, with tragic consequences.

December 8, 2023

Friday’s Headlines Include Transit

An International Association of Public Transport study found that many countries are neglecting transit in their plans to combat climate change.

December 8, 2023

Calif. Using“Auxiliary Lane” Freeway Widening Loophole for Non-Aux Lane Projects

Beyond just using harmful loopholes legally, Metro and Caltrans deceptively bypass environmental regulations in order to keep on widening freeways.

December 8, 2023

Talking Headways Podcast: Sausage Making and the ADA

"It is fundamentally inappropriate to keep charging disabled people twice as much," our guest Ron Brooks says.

December 7, 2023

The Real Reason Assaults Against Transit Workers Are On The Rise

Hint: it's not just because service has been slashed.

December 7, 2023
See all posts