Will the Volt Really Get 230 MPG, or is it BS?

When GM announced that its electric car, the 2011 Chevy Volt, is expected to get 230 miles per gallon, people were dazzled – and doubtful. Is that really possible? What does that number even mean? How can the EPA even measure fuel consumption that low?

According to GreenCarReports.com, it’s all in the assumptions. Here’s one, among many others:

40 miles, no gasoline

The Volt, remember, stores energy in both a gasoline tank and a battery pack. And it will always prioritize using electricity from the battery to power itself before it ever switches on the gas engine. Unlike a conventional hybrid car, though, the battery pack is usually recharged by plugging the Volt into a wall socket.

But the Volt’s 16-kilowatt-hour battery pack only gives it 40 miles of electric range. To eliminate “range anxiety,” after that, the Volt switches on its engine to run a generator that provides power to its electric motor. That gives another 300-plus miles of range.

So depending on how many of the Volt’s miles are run on grid power, and how many by burning gasoline in the engine to generate its own electricity.

GM often cites the statistic that more than 70 percent of all US vehicles travel less than 40 miles a day. If your usage falls within that level, your Volt would never turn on its engine–and never use a drop of gasoline. That’s gas mileage of, well, infinity.

On the other hand, if you drive a Volt 140 miles every single day, still recharging it at night, it would travel 40 miles on grid power and 100 miles on gasoline. If the car gets 50 miles per gallon with the engine on, that’s two gallons burned, 140 miles total, or 70 mpg.

The more daily miles over that first 40, the higher the proportion of gasoline burned–and the lower the overall mileage.

EcoGeek notes that there are a few concerns about GM’s claim, and addresses them in order of validity. Here’s the first:

The EPA rules for fuel economy are draft rules, and there is no guarantee that these are the numbers that will be on the car.

This is absolutely true. GM took draft rules from the EPA, applied it to their car, and then created a gigantic advertising campaign celebrating the results. This could be an attempt by GM to force the EPA into keeping these new guidelines, or it could just be GM jumping the gun. Either way, it doesn’t seem like a good idea. If this number gets into the cultural consciousness and then people walk onto dealer lots in two years and see the fuel economy listed at  80 / 60, people are actually going to be disappointed by 80 MPG. That’s a situation GM doesn’t want to put itself in.

Other questions about the rating include whether the EPA could be fudging the numbers since the government now owns GM, and whether using electricity is worse than using gasoline.

Meanwhile, Nissan is now claiming that its own electric car, the Leaf, will get 367 miles per gallon. The company even took a shot at the Volt on its Twitter, saying:

“Nissan Leaf = 367 mpg, no tailpipe, and no gas required. Oh yeah, and it’ll be affordable too”

The Leaf will also be cheaper than the Volt, making it more accessible to everyday consumers  at a retail cost of $25,000 compared to the Volt’s $40,000 price tag.

What’s really important here is that we’ve got active competition between car companies to produce the greenest, most fuel-efficient car. That’s a huge step, and assuming it continues, we should get a whole new spate of ultra-green vehicles in the next few years.

Link [Green Car Report] + [EcoGeek]
Photo credit: GM

GM Turns its Back on Safe Mercury Disposal

Emerging from bankruptcy, the new GM has made many a promise about becoming greener and more sustainable – but don’t ask them to do anything about the environmental impact of their ‘old’ cars. The company has announced that it will no longer participate in a partnership that collects toxic mercury switches from vehicles before they’re recycled.

With the popularity of the ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program, this decision means that thousands of GM mercury switches could end up polluting the environment.

From The Huffington Post:

GM said its new company is not a member of the partnership because it no longer makes vehicles with mercury switches and is not responsible for the older vehicles. The old company, which is still under bankruptcy court supervision, said it is reviewing agreements involving the former company and declined to comment.

Roughly 36 million mercury switches were used in trunk convenience lights and antilock brakes in vehicles built in the 1980s and 1990s. More than half of them are in GM vehicles built before 2000.

The auto industry partnership, called the End of Life Vehicle Solutions Corp., or ELVS, was created in 2005 to prevent mercury emissions from being released into the environment when vehicles are crushed and shredded. It works closely with the National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program, which the Environmental Protection Agency helped form with automakers, the steel industry and environmentalists in 2006.

Unfortunately, the loss of GM’s annual dues is having a huge impact on ELVS’ budget. Without those funds, the program may be forced to scale back operations or even stop what they’re doing entirely.

If GM is really serious about being green, they’ve got to take responsibility for things like this.

Link [Huffington Post]
Photo credit: Flickr user dave_7

Segway and GM Debut 2-Wheeled ‘PUMA’ Vehicle

General Motors is under a lot of pressure to come up with green transportation solutions, and they’ve apparently decided that the way of the future is the Segway. Well, sort of. GM and Segway debuted a prototype of a 2-wheeled, 2-seat electric vehicle that’s like a sitting version of the traditional Segway design. It’s called the Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility (PUMA) project, and it’s part of a larger plan that could revolutionize urban transportation.

From The Huffington Post:

The Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility, or PUMA, project also would involve a vast communications network that would allow vehicles to interact with each other, regulate the flow of traffic and prevent crashes from happening.

The 300-pound prototype runs on a lithium-ion battery and uses Segway’s characteristic two-wheel balancing technology, along with dual electric motors. It’s designed to reach speeds of up to 35 miles-per-hour and can run 35 miles on a single charge.

Ideally, the vehicles would also be part of a communications network that through the use of transponder and GPS technology would allow them to drive themselves. The vehicles would automatically avoid obstacles such as pedestrians and other cars and therefore never crash, Burns said.

A projected cost hasn’t been released, but the companies said it would likely be between one-fourth and one-third the cost of the average traditional vehicle. There’s no time line for production and GM concedes that it would take a while to get that kind of communications infrastructure in place, but it hopes that they can start out in places like college campuses.

Hopefully they’ll make a few changes to the design – there needs to be at least a little room for groceries or luggage, and it should be enclosed or offer that option. This kind of vehicle would dramatically change how traffic works in urban environments – can you imagine how much cleaner and more efficient it would be? And it would probably appeal to people who aren’t normally into riding bicycles for safety and comfort reasons.

It’s a good start, but perhaps GM should also work on technology that could apply to the entire nation, not just urban areas – and create vehicles that A) have a hope of selling within the near future and B) aren’t as expensive as the Chevy Volt.

Link [The Huffington Post]

GM Announces Tap Water-Powered Vehicle

Given an ultimatum by the Obama Administration, Detroit automakers have responded with surprising plans of action to remain financially viable. President Obama essentially told GM, Chrysler and Ford to “go green or go home”, laying out a “path to viability” that requires the automakers to produce greener vehicles.

Surprisingly, GM already had an ace up its sleeve: the company announced a tap water-powered vehicle that they’ve been secretly working on for several years. And that’s not all: the company plants to scrap all gas vehicles and go 100% hybrid/electric/hydrogen and other alternative fuels for 2010.

The Treasury Department’s report on GM (via Treehugger) stated:

Technology Leadership: The new GMScryve Corporate Social Responsibility Rating will have a significant focus on developing high fuel-efficiency cars that have broad consumer appeal because they are cost-effective, have good performance, and are reliable, durable, and safe.

Just when everyone thought GM was going to implode, the company’s COO Fritz Henderson announced the company’s new plans. The new tap-water powered model, creatively named the Agua, has other automakers scrambling to create their own water-fueled automobiles.

The technology uses a special process to separate water molecules through electrolysis, creating hydrogen, which is then burned. Once it reaches the proper temperature, the hydrogen recombines with oxygen at a rapid pace to form water again. This process creates the energy that fuels the vehicle. More details about the car are expected later this week.

Said Henderson, “Tap water is plentiful and accessible to virtually everyone. We will never run out of it, so it’s a fantastic alternative to fossil fuels, and burns cleanly without releasing harmful greenhouse gases into the air.”

Henderson, who is expected to take over for former CEO Rick Wagoner, admitted to being surprised by the project, which was being carried out in top secret by GM engineers, and even expressed incredulity at the fact that GM could come up with such a concept.

“Everyone said that the makers of the Hummer couldn’t compete in the green vehicle industry, but we have proven them wrong. Boo-yah! In your face, Obama!”

Link [Treehugger]

GM Giving Up 2 of 5 Private Jets Amid Criticism

C-SPAN isn’t exactly known for being the channel to watch when you want a good laugh. But, during the congressional hearings last week with the heads of GM, Chrysler and Ford, viewers were treated to some unexpected and bittersweet hilarity when the Big Three executives got skewered for arriving in Washington D.C. on a private jet. Their expressions during the barrage of questions belied the fact that they didn’t even consider how bad the luxury trips looked in light of the purpose of the hearings.

It’s bad enough that all three head honchos showed absolutely zero humility while begging Congress for a multi-billion dollar bailout. But then, Wagoner simply smirked when the three executives were asked if they planned to sell their private jets and fly back to Detroit via commercial airline. The response the public got from the auto companies afterward was simply that it’s “company policy” for the CEOs to travel on private jets, and that it was a “private matter”.

It was only after getting a verbal whipping from members of Congress that GM announced they’d be giving up their private jets.

From CNN Money:

GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said the auto maker, which leases the planes, had decided to get rid of two of its five remaining jets before this week’s hearings as part of deep cost cutting under way at the company. The company sold two planes in September.

“We understand the symbolic issue of people showing up in Washington in corporate jets,” Wilkinson said. “We’re very sensitive to that.”

All travel at the company is getting cut dramatically as GM, which burned through $6.9 billion in cash in the third quarter, struggled to stay afloat. GM has eliminated half the workers who staff its Detroit-based hangar and planes, Wilkinson said.

“There’s a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off them with tin cups in their hands,” Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D.-N.Y.) said. “It’s almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high-hat and tuxedo.”

It’s pretty sickening to hear that the company considers it a “symbolic issue”. Continuing to revel in such unnecessary excess while asking for a handout isn’t going to garner much sympathy from the taxpaying public.

Link [CNN Money] + [YouTube]