Autoblog

Bill Ford, AdAge chide GM over 230 MPG Chevrolet Volt MPG projection

Sebastian Blanco — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:58:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Marketing/Advertising, Chevrolet, Ford, GM

The Chevrolet Volt's 230 mpg number continues to be questioned. The latest to criticize is Bill Ford, who takes issue not only with the General Motors-approved 230 figure, but also Nissan's claim that its Leaf EV will get 367 mpg. The real culprit here, Ford said, is the EPA's methodology, which he argues is meaningless. "This question devolves into madness," Ford reportedly told Green Car Advisor:

"The government will have to come up with a meaningful number for customers - a user-friendly label. And I think they will. I can't dispute that number, but I'm not sure it's relevant to the customer either."

Ford also said that since his company doesn't "have any particular expertise in batteries," they'll probably buy the batteries from established manufacturers for their own electrified cars.

Speaking of relevance, Advertising Age, the publication that was first to guess that the whole 230 teaser campaign was a GM plot, has determined that the stunt was a bad idea. The big problems it sees with the campaign are that it often gave people the wrong idea (that 230 would be the U.S.'s new a standard voltage for outlets) and didn't give people enough breadcrumbs to follow to the Volt. It created more questions than answers, until the big reveal last week. In any case, the whole thing was targeted at a younger, hipper audience, but are these the people who have $40,000+ to buy a Volt?

Gallery: 2011 Chevy Volt

[Sources: Green Car Advisor, Advertising Age]

Bill Ford, AdAge chide GM over 230 MPG Chevrolet Volt MPG projection originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chevy Volt and 230 mpg: Negative reactions abound, but not from Bob Lutz

Sebastian Blanco — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:31:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Marketing/Advertising, Chevrolet, GM, Electric

GM CEO Fritz Henderson was all smiles when he announced the Chevy Volt's 230 mpg city rating yesterday. But the Internet digested the news in its own way, and there was some understandable confusion and criticism of the very big, very bold mpg claim. While the EPA put a damper on GM's numbers, that was mostly a way to say that it's too early to tell. GM representatives made it clear that they don't see the 230 number as unrealistic or setting Volt fans up for disappointment when the agency finally gets to test actual vehicles sometime next year. However, others were less diplomatic.

Darryl Siry, EV aficionado and former CMO at Tesla, was quick to call the 230 number "unrealistic," adding that, "the problem is that anytime you try to get to 'miles per gallon' using vehicles that don't necessary use 'gallons' you end up in a very strange debate with very strange outcomes." Indeed. Siry made sure to say that it's the EPA method (still in development, and one we don't know much about yet) and not only GM that's to blame here.

Over on What is 230?, someone who claims to be a "GM employee who works directly with people who work on the Volt" wrote in to say that the number is a "mis-leading gimmick of a marketing tactic."

In the least surprising response, Bob Lutz has nothing but good stuff to say about the 230 campaign and the rating. He says the hype was made "For one simple reason: We're proud of it."

[Source: Darryl Siry, What is 230?]

Chevy Volt and 230 mpg: Negative reactions abound, but not from Bob Lutz originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EPA backs away from GM claim of 230 mpg for Volt

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Sedan, Government/Legal, Chevrolet, GM, Electric

2011 Chevy Volt - Click above for high-res image gallery

Apparently, we're not the only ones trying to figure out the exact methodology that was used to determine the supposed 230 mile per gallon city rating claimed by General Motors for the upcoming Chevy Volt. In response to a query from the boys at Green Car Advisor, the EPA issued the following statement:

EPA has not tested a Chevy Volt and therefore cannot confirm the fuel economy values claimed by GM. EPA does applaud GM's commitment to designing and building the car of the future - an American-made car that will save families money, significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create good-paying American jobs. We're proud to see American companies and American workers leading the world in the clean energy innovations that will shape the 21st century economy.

Although it deserves noting that GM CEO Fritz Henderson didn't exactly say the 230 mpg rating was an official figure from the EPA, it sure is being bandied about as if it were gospel in the huge marketing campaign launched ahead of today's announcement.

When contacted for comment, GM told AutoblogGreen that the EPA is not backing away from the 230 numbers and that it's unlikely that the EPA will come out with a much lower number when they actually get to run a Volt through the official cycle. Further, GM believes that coming out with the 230 rating at this point in time is one way to change people's perception of what kind of car the Volt is.

Gallery: 2011 Chevy Volt

[Source: EPA via Green Car Advisor]

EPA backs away from GM claim of 230 mpg for Volt originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nissan pokes fun at Volt, claims 367 mpg equivalent for Leaf EV

Alex Nunez — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:29:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Marketing/Advertising, Chevrolet, GM, Nissan, Electric

Nissan Leaf EV - Click above for high-res image gallery

Not content to let General Motors grab all the shiny happy tree-huggy headlines today with its 230 mpg claim for the Chevy Volt in city operation, the gang manning the NissanEVs Twitter account needled GM's range-extended EV messiah, tweeting:

Nissan Leaf = 367 mpg, no tailpipe, and no gas required. Oh yeah, and it'll be affordable too!

Given that the methodology of how the feds will ultimately arrive at the official mileage numbers (or mileage equivalents) for many of these next-gen greenmobiles is not yet finalized, we'll take all the hype and scoreboard pointing with a grain of salt until we see actual, final numbers posted at FuelEconomy.gov. (Nissan says its 367 mpg figure was derived by using the Department of Energy formula.)

In any case, a Twitter spitball fight between GMBlogs and NissanEVs over this stuff would be kind of entertaining to watch. Sorta like the nerdy opposite of the ZR1 vs. GT-R debate.

Gallery: 2010 Nissan Leaf EV

[Source: Nissan EVs onTwitter]

Nissan pokes fun at Volt, claims 367 mpg equivalent for Leaf EV originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How did GM arrive at 230 mpg for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt?

Sebastian Blanco — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:33:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Chevrolet, GM, Electric

Neither General Motors nor the EPA are making declarative statements about how, exactly, the 2011 Chevy Volt will achieve it's much-touted 230 mpg rating that was announced today. GM's most clear statement (available in full after the break) says that some consumers "may be able to be in pure electric mode on a daily basis without having to use any gas" and that "key to high-mileage performance is for a Volt driver to plug into the electric grid at least once each day."

Without access to the actual method that the EPA is tentatively going to apply to plug-in vehicles (we have requests for clarification out to the EPA), all that GM's Dave Darovitz would tell us is that the number is "based on city cycles and we're not really talking in detail yet." Instead, the press release says that:

Under the new methodology being developed, EPA weights plug-in electric vehicles as traveling more city miles than highway miles on only electricity. The EPA methodology uses kilowatt hours per 100 miles traveled to define the electrical efficiency of plug-ins. Applying EPA's methodology, GM expects the Volt to consume as little as 25 kilowatt hours per 100 miles in city driving. At the U.S. average cost of electricity (approximately 11 cents per kWh), a typical Volt driver would pay about $2.75 for electricity to travel 100 miles, or less than 3 cents per mile.

Frank Weber, vehicle chief engineer for the Volt, told AutoblogGreen that the EPA's method takes into account the two extremes: People who plug in every chance they get and therefore barely ever need gasoline and people who never plug in (if you're buying a Volt and never plug it in, we'd like to offer you a bridge or two. Call us). By figuring out what the average driver will do with the Volt, the EPA has declared that 230 mpg is reasonable. Weber said, "The number is in the ballpark, it is not unrealistic. The moment you are driving shorter trips, or you go on longer trips and look at your average fuel economy, this number is achievable."

Keep in mind, that 230 mpg number is only valid in city driving, though GM claims that the Volt's combined mpg rating will still be in the triple-digit range. Though the EPA has yet to finalize its methodology, we have come across a calculation that makes sense. According to a commenter on TTAC.com, the EPA would first drive a PHEV with a full charge until it reaches a charge-sustaining mode, after which it completes a normal cycle of 11 miles. The Volt, therefore, would presumably go 40 miles before activating charge-sustaining mode, and then travel another 11 miles for a total of 51 miles. Thus, GM can claim the Volt will achieve 230 mpg based on 51 miles of driving during which only .22 gallons of fuel would be used. Likewise, if we know the Volt would use .22 gallons of fuel while traveling 11 miles in charge-sustaining mode, we can calculate that it would achieve 50 mpg while traveling with the generator on.

However, as you can read in this detailed PDF from NREL, there is much more to think about in calculating the fuel economy of a PHEV than simply how far it can go on a single charge and then what its "regular" mpg rating is. We'll just have to wait until the EPA finalizes its methodology for testing these types of vehicles before we can say for certain how GM arrived at the magic number of 230 mpg.

[Source: GM, NREL]

Continue reading How did GM arrive at 230 mpg for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt?

How did GM arrive at 230 mpg for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt? originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GM announces... 2011 Chevrolet Volt will get 230 mpg city!

Sam Abuelsamid — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:23:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Sedan, Government/Legal, Chevrolet, GM, Electric

In case you missed it this morning, General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson made some big news just one month after the "new" GM emerged from bankruptcy protection.

First of all, Henderson announced that the GM FastLane blog would now be used to solicit feedback on new designs directly from customers. Over the next two years, GM will be launching 25 new models in its four remaining "core" brands (Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC).

After the webcast ends, we'll going over to the design dome for a preview of the new large XTS and small ATS models from Cadillac. The latter will slot in below the CTS and be aimed directly at the BMW 3-series with rear- and all-wheel drive. The XTS is expected to be based on a stretched Epsilon II platform.

The biggest bombshell is Henderson's announcement that the "230" marketing campaign floating around for the past week is related to the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. The EPA has released a new methodology for determining a draft fuel economy standard for extended-range EVs like the Volt, and under this new procedure, the Volt will have a composite urban fuel economy rating of 230 mpg! On the electric side, the Volt will consume 25 kW-hours per 100 miles. That makes the Volt the first car ever to get a triple digit fuel economy rating.

According to Frank Weber, vehicle chief engineer for the Volt, the number is based on combined electric only driving and charge sustaining mode with the engine running. He declined to get specific about the proportions, but did say that the urban cycle would be predominantly EV only. The EPA has been studying real world vehicle usage and is developing the formulas to try and provide a representative number of what most customers could expect to achieve. In addition to the composite number, the new EPA stickers will likely also get numbers for mileage in charge sustaining mode and electric efficiency in EV mode.

Stay tuned for more news from this morning's event as it happens.

Gallery: 2011 Chevrolet Volt

[Source: General Motors]

GM announces... 2011 Chevrolet Volt will get 230 mpg city! originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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