Chevy Volt 230 mpg spreadsheet

Maybe because the car does not actually exist. It's kind of like asking how far a griffin can fly per human consumed. I predict that at peak production, there will be as many Volts built per year as there are griffins in Nebraska. So WTH, call it 230 mpg, and in the case of the griffin, 230 miles per human eaten.

 

Don't be ridiculous! Unicorns are ungulates and eat grass and leaves. Look at any picture of a griffin; it is obviously a meat-eater. Of course they don't just eat people. They eat any animal they can kill. But for standardization purposes I chose to state their mileage in terms of people. Obviously they could not fly as far on a bunny, though they do love to eat bunnies.

 

First of all... I don't think the Volt should be rated at 230mpg.

Error one in the spreadsheet is the size of the battery.
The size is 16kWh but the usable is more like 8.8kWh.

Second is the miles per kWh. Its not accuratly publshed, some reports say 4 miles per kWh but taking the range (40 miles) and the battery size into account its closer to 5.

In reality we just need more data, the true specs are not all out.

[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Volt]Chevrolet Volt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

 

Here are a few easy ones:

(1) Your spreadsheet displays no resemblance whatsoever to the EPA City test cycle;

(2) You appear to be trying to convert electric energy and cost into gasoline equivalents. No! No! No! For purposes of the EPA gas mileage sticker, electricity consumed is absolutely free.

(3) Traditional 'Gas Mileage' is a not a meaningful metric for rating an 'Electric Car'.

 

I personally think the whole unicorn vs griffin debate is preposterous. I think a better comparison would be between the african and european swallow. Now we have something to sink our teeth into. Or claws into a coconut husk.

 

I don't think there is a mistake. I think they are not actually doing it based on energy cost, they are doing it based only on gallons of gas. So, miles per GALLON is taken literally!

This is equivalent to putting in ZERO for the cost of electricity in your spreadsheet. Note that for 50 miles per day, you then get 250 MPG, and for 51.11 miles, you would get 230 MPG.

So, as far as I can tell (and I did this calculation algebraically several days ago), GM thinks the average American puts 51.11 miles per day on their cars, and assuming electricity is free, they get 230 MPG!!!!! I must say that their math, if not their logic, appears to be absolutely correct.

Actually, 51 mi/day does not seem that unrealistic. If you take 15,000 miles per year over 365 days, you get 41 miles per day. Maybe GM threw in 10 miles "for good luck" ??

Or more likely, they they actually looked at the number of people driving 5 mi/day, 6 mpd, 7 mpd,................500 mpd, and figered out the total miles and the total gallons and it gave the same result as for 51.11 mpd. Who knows - they haven't fessed up yet, have they??

- g

 

That's not what nymph's eat ... I used to know one and ... well, nevermind.


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