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View Full Version : GM to Sell First Volts in California to Take on Prius


Right Lane Cruiser
12-01-2009, 06:50 AM
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/AmericanFlag.jpg GM projects a fully charged Volt will travel 40 miles before it needs to be plugged in or uses an onboard gasoline engine. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=a1gtI.xYg8dg)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2011_Cruze_and_Volt_in_LA.jpgMike Ramsey and Katie Merx - BLOOMBERG (http://www.bloomberg.com) - November 30, 2009

Will high unemployment and debt rates blunt GM's push into California's auto market? --Ed.

General Motors Co. will start selling its Chevrolet Volt electric car in California late next year as the largest U.S. automaker challenges Toyota Motor Corp.’s Prius.

The plug-in electric Volt will have a top speed of 100 miles per hour, Maria Rohrer, GM director of the Volt program, said today at a school assembly in advance of the Los Angeles Auto Show.

A California debut for the Volt may help GM improve its image in a state with some of the strictest U.S. anti-pollution regulations. Detroit-based GM has a 9.8 percent market share in Los Angeles, compared with 19.8 percent nationwide, based on data from researchers Experian Plc and Autodata Corp.

“California is one of GM’s biggest problem markets, and this vehicle and technology addresses some of the key concerns that California consumers have,” said Rebecca Lindland, an analyst at IHS Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts.

GM said it expects a federal fuel-efficiency rating of 230 miles per gallon for the Volt, more than four times the Environmental Protection Agency grade for the Prius. Toyota’s 2010 Prius is rated at 51 mpg in city driving and 48 mpg on the highway, according to the agency’s vehicle-efficiency Web site.

Unproven Technology

The Volt uses a lithium-ion battery charged through an electrical outlet, part of the unproven technology that GM is counting on to leapfrog the Prius, the world’s best-selling hybrid. Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota began... http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=a1gtI.xYg8dg

WriConsult
12-01-2009, 11:51 AM
GM said it expects a federal fuel-efficiency rating of 230 miles per gallon for the VoltWell, they ain't gonna get a 230mpg rating. I can't believe GM gets away with continually throwing that number out there.

Based GM's own published range figures, the highest rating the Volt could get would be 140mpg, assuming pure EV operation and no actual fuel used.

The only way you could get a higher figure than that would be to ignore the grid electricity consumed by plugging in the car -- a practice EPA never permitted when EVs were available in CA a few years ago, and I can't imagine they would start allowing it now.

I really want to like the Volt, but this continued blatant deception undermines GM's credibility severely in my eyes.

mulad
12-02-2009, 04:43 PM
They might maybe sorta be able to pull that off as a CAFE rating, but not as a window-sticker rating. There was a report last year that Tesla's CAFE rating is 244 mpg, though the rating they'd get on a window sticker is probably half that (Tesla has claimed 135 -- I don't know why they don't have their car listed on fueleconomy.gov...).

Anyway, electric cars get extra credit in CAFE ratings, kind of like how E85 vehicles (particularly SUVs) were given extra credit in the past (I think the law allowing that has expired now).



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