Chevy Volt: triple-digit mpg?

General Motors, fresh out of bankruptcy (that didn’t seem to hurt, did it?), has grabbed the headlines by stating that the Chevy Volt, due out late 2010, will get an EPA rating of 230 mpg in the city. Is this the result of someone being ingenious or disingenuous?

Sadly, it looks like the latter. Neither GM nor the EPA have come up with a clear methodology to arrive at this figure, that’s because it’s still being developed, but the general argument is that if a Volt driver does less than 40 miles a day (the range of the battery pack without the internal combustion engine having to kick in) and recharges each night, then zero gasoline will be used.

Hmmm. What about the environmental cost of electricity? Conveniently, GM hasn’t gone into that much. It just says that those who drive less than 40 miles between charges are looking at 2.75 cents a mile. And the projected cost of the car? The figure of $40,000 has been touted, minus a federal credit of $7,500. That’s still a serious outlay.

The whole 230 mpg thing has to be taken with a massive pinch of salt. In real-world scenarios, 70 mpg is more likely. And Nissan is promising an all-electric car. Does that qualify as infinity miles per gallon? Can we have a federal credit for buying a Tesla? Looks like the EPA has to find a new way of evaluating new technology. We can expect companies to come out with BS at times, but the government should be above all that, even if it does own a stake in GM.