The Chevrolet Volt’s combined fuel economy has been rated at the equivalent of 72.1mpg (UK conversion) by the US’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Volt, a car vital to General Motors’ future, will be capable of the equivalent of 111.7mpg (UK) on electric power alone and 44.4mpg (UK) when all of its electric charge has been used up, the EPA has said.
Read Autocar's first drive of the Chevrolet Volt
The EPA added that the Volt had an all-electric range of 35 miles and a total range of 379 miles when its 1.4-litre petrol engine kicked in to extend the range.
The EPA is keen to give electric cars and hybrids an equivalent fuel economy rating next to allow buyers to better understand manufacturer claims and have something to compare them next to conventional internal combustion engine cars.
Read more on Chevrolet's plans for its next-gen Volt
Nissan’s all-electric Leaf, for example, has been given a 118.9mpg (UK) equivalent economy rating and a maximum range of 73 miles by the EPA.
The equivalent all-electric figures are worked out on the basis of 33.7kWh of electricity being the same as using one gallon of petrol.
The combined economy figure puts the Volt as the most efficient car in its class in the US. It would return 176mpg (UK) on the current EU cycle, but this is unlikely to be its final figure when tested in Europe.
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Re: Volt gets 72.1mpg rating in US
44mpg when the charge is all gone? 72mpg combined? I'm not exactly blown away by those figures.
It seems that diesel is still king then. And from the reviews I've read of the Volt, the silly thing is a miserable thing to drive too. A nice 320d ED would wipe the floor with this effort.
I suppose the Volt might do if you ever want to do is pootle around town... But surely there's much cheaper ways of doing that that are still efficient...
Re: Volt gets 72.1mpg rating in US
These figures are only achievable if the user remembers to plug the car in to an electric supply at every available opportunity. In the real world, I suspect people will get lazy and rely more and more on the combustion engine. This would be bad news for efficiency, but might just prolong battery life a bit!
Incidentally one imperial gallon of petrol should contain about 44 kWh of energy, rather than the 33.7 kWh which presumably is the US figure.