Chevy hopes an estimated 230 mpg will give its Volt a charge

Chevy hopes an estimated 230 mpg will give its Volt a charge - NJ.com (http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2009/08/chevy_hopes_an_estimated_230_m.html)

230 mpg?! Wow.

Whan I saw this yesterday, I had the same reaction. Then of course a co-worker said "that's nothing, they have had the technology to produce even more gas mileage for many years now". While I agree that we have, you cannot play down the fact that it is still almost 10 times better than what we have seen of late. It's like going from an Atari to a PS3.

Whan I saw this yesterday, I had the same reaction. Then of course a co-worker said "that's nothing, they have had the technology to produce even more gas mileage for many years now". While I agree that we have, you cannot play down the fact that it is still almost 10 times better than what we have seen of late. It's like going from an Atari to a PS3.

This would seem to be a huge step forward potentially. If the car is a hit with the public it's only going to increase the demand and other auto makers will have to jump on board.

This would seem to be a huge step forward potentially. If the car is a hit with the public it's only going to increase the demand and other auto makers will have to jump on board.

It's about time though. I am tired of driving through the City and choking on exhaust from old vehicles and trucks.

I wonder what impact this will have on gas prices though. Part of me thinks that they will get cheaper (supply and Demand), but because people will be buying fuel less frequently I get this feeling that the prices will increase so that oil trycoons can maintain their operating costs. Eventually the oil companies are going to have to downsize or face bankruptcy much like the auto industry.

I always laugh at commercials pimping 30 or 35 mpg. In this day and age that's really the best we can do?

It's about time though. I am tired of driving through the City and choking on exhaust from old vehicles and trucks.

I wonder what impact this will have on gas prices though. Part of me thinks that they will get cheaper (supply and Demand), but because people will be buying fuel less frequently I get this feeling that the prices will increase so that oil trycoons can maintain their operating costs. Eventually the oil companies are going to have to downsize or face bankruptcy much like the auto industry.

Oil companies aren't to blame for gas prices as much as the cartels that own the oil. Actual oil companies would lower and raise costs according to demand a lot more if they got their product through a true market but oil prices are price-fixed. So prices probably would go up when demand went down and eventually we won't have to care about the middle east anymore because we wont need their oil. It has always been the paradox for OPEC. Fix the price higher and higher to make more money but at some point they'll fix it high enough to put themselves out of business.

In any case I am glad Chevy has this basically ready to go. We desperately need more vehicles like this. Imagine if we actually eliminated all the current cars on the road in like a 15 year period. Amazing. We could do it if we really wanted...and that'd be a stimulus that would truly help our manufacturing. As long as we stayed on top of the technology and didn't let Toyota and Honda get back ahead of us.

This would seem to be a huge step forward potentially. If the car is a hit with the public it's only going to increase the demand and other auto makers will have to jump on board.

At around 40 grand it cannot be a very big hit with the public. Now if they came out with a car like this for around 15 grand then it would be a big hit.

At around 40 grand it cannot be a very big hit with the public. Now if they came out with a car like this for around 15 grand then it would be a big hit.

Sounds like there's going to be some significant tax breaks for it though.

It might not be a big hit right away but I'm betting in just a few years it could be.

There would be significant savings on the gas, but astute customers would ask how much is my electric bill going to increase as a result of having to charge this puppy?

If that increase significantly offsets the gas savings, nobody will pay $40,000 for one of these.

Looks like the article says it will cost 40 cents per day to charge. That's $2.80 per week, or about $12 per month. So indeed, the savings would be tremendous.