GM Chevy Volt Boasts 230 MPG!

It is now official that the Chevy Volt has an EPA rating of 230 MPG in the city, as announced today by GM CEO Fritz Henderson. The combined city/highway average will be more than 100 MPG.

The Volt should get up to 40 miles on electricity alone, on one single charge from the batteries. This is in the electric mode, which will use no gas and use no emissions while driving. Electrical energy is stored in its 16 kWh lithium-ion battery pack.

The lithium-ion battery pack can be fully charged by plugging the car into a 120-240VAC residential electrical outlet using the provided SAE J1772 compliant charging cord.

When the battery runs out of juice, the Extended-Range kicks in. While in this mode, a gas powered engine-generator will produce the electricity to provide the power to run the car, and charge the batteries simultaneously.

GM expects the Volt to consume as little as 25 kilowatt hours per 100 mile of city driving. If you figure 11 cents per kWh (national average), you would pay $2.75 in electricity to travel 100 miles. That’s equivalent to 3 cents per mile. Not bad at all.

Production is expected to start in November of 2010, and it will be launched as a 2011 model.

GM Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson said:

“From the data we’ve seen, many Chevy Volt drivers may be able to be in pure electric mode on a daily basis without having to use any gas. The key to high-mileage performance is for a Volt driver to plug into the electric grid at least once each day.”

Chief Engineer Andrew Farah commented previously:

“As we get into having the pre-production vehicles, you might think, well, this is the end of the process. When in fact it’s really the beginning of the most important part of the process. We really have to refine the vehicle, and make it the vehicle that people want to drive.”

Andrew Farah presents the pre-production properties of the car, which he says is basically the real Volt. You can take a peek of the Volt here in the video.