Volt MPG??

[fred.putnam]

I'm interested in buying a volt, and have seen very different mpgs on the web. At edmunds.com, it was 95 city/93 hwy for a 2012 volt. But on http://www.chevrolet.com/assets/pdf/..._optimized.pdf I see "EPA estimated 93 MPGe (electric); 35 city, 40 highway MPG (gas)".

So, what is EPA's MPGe, and what is actually shown on the sticker?

[fred.putnam]

I found most of the answer to my questions at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_p...ine_equivalent, which explains MPGe, and also has a nice image of a 2011 Chevy Volt "sticker".

I guess I'm about ready for a test drive!

[fred.putnam]

I have been doing some shopping online, and I think GM is shooting themselves in the foot.

At http://www.pridechevrolet.com/Vehicl...-MA/1362226413 I see only 35 city/45 highway MPG, no mention of the 95 MPGe on the sticker you can see at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_p...ine_equivalent.

Toyota, however, right on http://www.toyota.com/prius-plug-in/ shows 87 est. mpge and 49 est. hybrid mode mpg.

get your marketing in gear GM!
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[Lee Willis]

I have had mine only a brief time, but:
- the window sticker, which has officially blessed ratings, says 94combined/37 on gas alone
- my car really does go 40 miles on a full charge. The dealer told me I might get "as few as 25 miles." But even with air on, driving to work about half on the Interstate ad 65 mph, and in the dark in the morning with the headlights on, I am averaging almost exactly 1 mile covered per 1 mile of estimated charge used.
- since I drive only about 36 miles per day, the motor almost never runs at all. I estimate my actual miles per gallon of gas bought at about 500. But that's not fair because the electricity costs a noticeable amount.
- I'm getting about 2.6 miles per kilowatt hour at about 11 cents per kilowatt hour so far, which, if one assumes the car would get its rated 37 mpg on gas, is equivalent to 87 cents per gallon. Turning that around, given gas is $3.42/gallon here, and I get 2.6 miles per 11 cents (4.23 cents per mile cost) can go 81 miles for $3.42 - so in my book the car gets 81 miles per (pocketbook equivalent) gallon.

[pjleckie]

Hey has anyone seen any speed vs distance numbers.

For example drive at 60mph how far do you get until the geny kicks in, repeat test at 50mph, 40mph 30mph, etc.

I'v seen a similar test for an electric motorbike and and range extensions are quite staggering for example at 60mph you get 50 miles and at 30mph you get 200 miles.

The motorbike had no aerodynamic design so it's results would probably be more excessive then the volt however I would be interested to see what the volt does.

[pjleckie]

Woops I duplicated the last post.

[MI_Volt]

Originally Posted by pjleckie

For example drive at 60mph how far do you get until the geny kicks in, repeat test at 50mph, 40mph 30mph, etc.

Today's road trip ~65F ambient temperature, climate set to Econo, 90% freeway @70mph, two adults, one college student and all the crap from spring break;

30.5 miles to a charge.

[A. B. Hair]

My volt has now 1410 miles and is one month old. Most of my driving has been short trips including delivering Meals on Wheels which is about 50+ miles per delivery.
As of now, if I can do trips with only electricty I can get 46 miles on a charge. I am surprised that the 37 miles listed wil really go 46 miles before going to gas. I am sure this is fairly careful driving as I learned this trick with my 2006 Prius. My only trip on gas I was averageing about 37 mpg. I will know more tomorrow as I am going on a 360 mile trip. I will see what I does on a longer run.
I am very pleased with the volt. I is so much more car in all ways that the Prius.

[MI_Volt]

Originally Posted by MI_Volt

Today's road trip ~65F ambient temperature, climate set to Econo, 90% freeway @70mph, two adults, one college student and all the crap from spring break;

30.5 miles to a charge.

That trip I averaged 44.5 MPGe over ~200 miles mostly freeway.

Today 34.5 electric, 1/3 freeway and 5 miles still on the battery so I'll call it a 40 mile day.

[Rick Reece]

If you want real world numbers then look at www.voltstats.net as it gets data from nearly 1000 volts twice a day via ONSTAR. The average is over 120 mpg. I thought we were doing well as 380+ mpg and climbing (We purchased out of state but have been going up steadily for the last 6 months) but one owner has a 5000mpg rating (In other words he is meeting essentially all his driving needs on Electricity). Have fun, Rick