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" There was much hullabaloo this morning \u2014 on the blogs, on Twitter, even on the oil-bearing Russian soil \u2014 about GM&amp;#039;s announcement that it would squeeze a whopping 230 miles per gallon (city!) from its much-anticipated Chevy Volt &amp;quot;extended-range vehicle.&amp;quot; (Side note: this means the electric car is only mostly dead). Two-hundred-thirty miles per gallon is an exciting number, and the folks from Warren have a smiley new plug-in logo to prove it, but it&amp;#039;s not their calculation that&amp;#039;s exciting \u2014 it&amp;#039;s the EPA&amp;#039;s. From the press release we just got in: &amp;quot;From the data we&amp;#039;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,&amp;quot; said GM Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson.... 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&amp;#039;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. What does that mean, exactly? GM engineers are being pretty coy, but it&amp;#039;s safe to assume they&amp;#039;ve invented an new way for us urbanites to drive, and that we&amp;#039;ll be doing so as soon as next year. That is, if GM is able to &amp;quot;plug into the kiddies,&amp;quot; as Henderson apparently put it, about once a day. If it can, though \u2014 if the Volt catches on with the car-crazy young consumers of America \u2014 it&amp;#039;ll have found a way to do what has been, to those Russians, the bailout haters, and the American consumer alike, the unthinkable: make it possible to never have to fill up the tank. Unless, you know, you&amp;#039;re taking the Great American Road Trip. Gas-guzzling does have its virtues. RELATED LINKS:  EARLIER: A Sexy Electric Car That Gearheads Can Agree On  PLUS: The Chevy Volt Release Date, and More Things to Look Forward to in the Future "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a6194/chevy-volt-230-mpgs-081109/>