August 14th, 2009
230 MPG. 367 MPG. Pick a number and market it! Doubts are voiced.
It all began this week when General Motors claimed a 230MPG rating for its still unreleased elecltric Volt. Then Nissan claimed a 367 MPG for its unreleased Leaf. And that car won’t even have a gas tank! So are the auto makers basing their claims on the estimated amoung of fossil fuel needed to produce the electricity to run the electric engine? The EPA doesn’t know. They won’t test either Volt or Leaf until they are ready for sale. And other voices are raising questions as we see in this “US News” piece.
The U.S. News reporter can’t fathom GM’s MPG claim, ” For 40 miles, the Volt uses no gas. After that, it’s apparently about 40 mpg. So if you commute 40 miles or less per day, you could expect an infinite number of miles per gallon.”
“Consumer Reports” calls the 230MPG claim, “the exaggeration of the century.”
Have they got some formula at GM where they take the highway miles and balance those with city trips of less than 40 miles? Maybe this was just a ploy to get us talking about the Volt? Well, it worked. As one GM exec was quoted, “debate on this subject is good.”
Loading ...There are some driver-ready Volts. And here’s a video by a CNET reporter. Here’s the official Chevy Volt website. The headline on the website: “Chevy Volt 230.” Stick that in your debate.
A newsman since 1969, Harry Fuller has worked for CBS, ABC, CNBC Europe, CNET and was founding news director at TechTV. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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