The new Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid will have a fuel economy of 60 miles per gallon, better than the Toyota Prius, General Motors Co (GM) said on Wednesday. With Volt, GM becomes the new fuel efficiency leader.
GM has started the production of the much hyped Volt at their factory near Detroit. The first sales are expected some time this December.
The Volt is at the center of GM’s plan to kick start its reputation of being one of the best in technology and innovation. Each Volt that is sold will have an EPA fuel-rating sticker on it, which was the last difficulty for the vehicle.
The Volt has been named the Green Car of the Year and Motor Trend car of the year. The award recognizes the auto company’s efforts to make a mass-market hybrid car that can run both on electric power and gasoline.
The EPA ratings came out as GM aired an ad on the television thanking the American people for its bailout, just a week after initial public offering of GM shares in the stock market.
The main line of the ad is: “We all fall down. Thank you for helping us get back up.”
The GM now has the bragging rights over Toyota’s Prius because of the fuel efficiency. It has worked hard for it throughout the development period of the Volt
The EPA rating also highlights the vehicle’s overall performance, of which GM was accused of overhyping.
Just after emerging from bankruptcy in august 2009, GM ran many ads saying the Volt can run up to 230 miles per gallon in city according to initial EPA test.
The EPA MPGe (miles-per-gallon-equivalent) rating for Volt in all-electric mode is just below the rating of 99 for Nissan Leaf which was given earlier this week.
The EPA rating of Volt’s range when powered by the 400 pound lithium ion battery pack, is 35 miles, less than the 40 miles GM had used the initial description of the car.
Nissan’s battery powered Leaf, which has a rating of 73 miles on battery, only, also goes on sale next month.
GM said that the range of Volt will be described at 25-50 miles, depending upon the conditions.
The Volt also has a 1.4 liter engine for longer trips and journeys that gives an estimated 379 miles of driving range, said Doug Parks, the GM executive in charge of electric projects.
If the Volt runs on gasoline alone, it will have an EPA fuel economy of about 37 miles per gallon in both city and highway driving.
EPA gave 60 miles-per-gallon rating to the Volt after accounting for the pure electric driving expected in the average trips, GM said.
By contrast, Toyota’s 2011 model Prius has an EPA rating of 51 miles per gallon in city and 48 in highway driving.
The EPA and automakers have struggled to find new stickers about the fuel economy that would provide more information to the consumer without overwhelming them. For example the Volt label reads the cost per year on electric mode as 601 dollars and in gas mode as 1,302 dollars.
The Leaf tops the Volt on EPA label which tracks the greenhouse emissions. Since it has no combustion engine, the leaf does not have such emissions.
The volt has a rating of 84 gram of CO2 per mile, less than one fifth of the worst car on that score.
GM will make more than 10,000 Volts this year owing to the increasing demand.
Subsidies are offered by the European, Asian and US governments on many electric vehicles soon to include Ford Motors and Toyota.
According to most industry estimates, the electric cars will account for a single digit share of auto sales over the next 10 years.
