Paul,
 There's voodoo economics and now I'm a believer in voodoo mpg.

 Chevy says the Volt gets 230 mpg city.
 Let's see:  it will go 40 miles on pure electric.
 It has a 10 gal. fuel tank.
 The overall range is more than 300 miles.
 Let's give it the benefit of the doubt here and say it will go 300 on
its
 gasoline, which is 30 mpg.
 So add the 300 gas miles and the 40 electric miles and you get a total
of
 340 miles  If you divide 340 by the 10 gal of gas do you get 34 mpg or
 230?
 jd


 The real question is how many miles per bucket full of coal?
 No pollution in my back yard.

 The other thing about it is once the batteries are dead after
 traveling 40
 miles you then have a 100 HP piston engine in a 3500 pounds car. Talk
 about
 a slug. That should kill sales in a milli microsecond when that
becomes
 common knowledge.

 I can't believe how stupid the Government thinks I am.
 Maybe it it just who THEY hang out with :)

 Paul Lamar


 I have to carefully comment about this dangerous path being taken by
GM.
 I'll admit that one could consider me biased, as I work for Ford.
 That being said, there is a lack of appreciation of past mistakes
being
 repeated. Fritz has made a fantastic pronouncement of performance that
 will
 never be approached by the customer, nor has he been candid with the
 equivalent carbon footprint of the energy cost/requirements of a
plug-in
 hybrid, nor has he touched on a cost comparison of energy
 price/efficiency.
 Hiding these critical metrics from the consumer will lead to yet
another
 breach of trust between the consumer and GM.
 I would hope that A.M's experience in Boeing will keep him from
 allowing our
 marketing to slip down that slope of exaggerated claims.
 This will come back to haunt GM.
 C. SMith


 As did the first GM electric car.

 They need to get with it and improve the efficiency of the internal
 combustion and quit throwing away half the fuel energy in the exhaust.

 An external combustion coal powered power plant is 1730's technology
 except
 for the steam turbine which is 1930's technology. My guess is it is
40%
 efficient at best. A turbo compound Mazda Wankel could be as much as
44%
 efficient without all the long distance  electric power transmission
 losses.

 Not to mention the losses when charging the batteries and converting
 stored
 electric energy to mechanical energy to move the car.
 On top of that you are hauling around 400 pounds of dead battery
weight.

 Paul Lamar
 --

 Paul,

 Yes the current form of hybrids auto suck. GM is full of it. I guess
 their
 world is flat. Volt battery technology is already outdated by two
 years and
 it hasn't even launched yet.

 Now total electric cars however do have a place IF.

 IF: If the vehicle is lightweight, and used as a daily commuter or
 delivery
 van within a 60 - 80 miles of base.

 IF; the maximum speed on flat ground is 55mph.

 IF the car's battery is never run down past 70% state of charge thus
 enabling at least 1500 recharges

 IF: the car is charged up at home or office from the Renewable energy
 systems.

 The present choices for total electric cars are too expensive and not
 practical beyond bragging rights.  Frankly who cares if an electric
 Tesla is
 faster in the quarter mile than a Porche.  Its the next 100 miles that
 are
 important.

 The only option today is to use a small donor car and make your own.
It
 ain't that difficult.

 Doug in Japan

 Here is a recent article critical of the claims.


http://www.tmworld.com/blog/640000064/post/340047634.html?nid=3351&rid=4
427882


 C. Smith

 What is bugging me is they are using tax money to advertise GM.

 Paul Lamar

i thought the onboard ic engine only charged the battery and wasnt used
for propulsion.  What am i missing?
 jeremy solomon

The battery goes dead after 40 miles. Then the IC engine gets you home.
If it is charging the battery while driving home then you would not have
100 HP available. Maybe with a remote control you could start the engine
about 3 PM before you left work to charge the battery :) Then of course
you would be getting zero miles per gallon :)

That is probably OK if you can plug it in at work or you only have to
drive
20 miles to work and you can afford a separate $40,000 car  for just
driving
back and forth to work. You are not going on vacation in this car.

My advice is to forget it and buy a Honda Fit or something like it for
about $15,000. I drove a rental Honda Fit from Kyoto to Hiroshima
and back and it is a great little car.

A Suzuki Reno is a great looking little car.

MSRP $13,839 -
Engine    2.0L I-4 127 HP
Transmission    Standard:
5-spd man w/OD
Available:
4-spd auto w/OD
Curb Weight    2,745 lbs.
Fuel Economy City    20.0 mpg
Fuel Economy Highway    28.0 mpg
Bumper to Bumper Warranty (months/miles) 36/36,000
    
Engine Type       In-Line 4-Cylinder     

-----------------------------------------------------
Honda Fit
MSRP $15,460.00
Displacement (cc)1497    
Horsepower @ rpm 117 @ 6600    

Valve Train 16-Valve SOHC i-VTEC(r)    
5-Speed Manual Transmission    
Curb Weight (lbs, MT/AT) 2489 / 2575    

EPA Mileage Estimates
     
5-Speed Manual (City/Highway/Combined)     27/33/29    
5-Speed Automatic (City/Highway/Combined) 28/35/31    

These cars are roughly 1000 pounds lighter in weight than
a Volt. That means the performance will be much better
than a Volt with a dead battery.

Paul Lamar