What is "230" ? MPG? Looks like YES!

[Dr Mordrid]

Started showing up on YouTube, Fliker, Facebook etc. in the last few days.

The images "0" looks like an electrical outlet, and the 8-11 appears to be a date - actually this coming Tuesday.

AdAge says that it tracks back to General Motors. They have a press conference set for that date, though they clammed up when asked about "230".

The consensus among the automotive press is that this presser is to announce the Chevy Volt's official miles/gallon rating using methodologies put together for the EPA by the Argonne National Laboratory.

This included establishing a gasoline equivalency for electricity used in EV's, then for EREV's like Volt running a highway cycle then a city cycle in range extender mode to establish a maximum fuel use. (range extender mode: using a small gas generator after the main battery charge is used up)

Scuttlebutt is the result was -

230 MPG

How?

Best guess is that it ran through the highway cycle using just a portion of its 40 mile EV mode capability (a full charge costs about $1 using average off hour rates, making the gas equivalent use tiny) then it would have had to use around 0.2 gallons of fuel running the established EPA city cycle.

They could also announce the coming 500 vehicle 'beta test fleet' - something similar to what they did with their fuel cell SUV testbed a couple years ago. First come-first served to sign up as a Volt field test driver.

[Kruzin]

230 is the cost for each battery cell.
8-11 is how many you will need to replace every 6 months.

[Technoid]

230v is what we have in our wall sockets here in europe

[Tjalfe]

no, you have 220V in Europe, with the UK having 240V.. then they standardized by saying it was 230V, but with a bigger margain of error

[Dr Mordrid]

It's not the voltage or the cost per cell.

Also: the warranty on the battery unit, which includes the cells, their environmental controls, charge computer etc. etc. is to be 10 years/150,000 miles - thus meeting the Federal standards. They're expected to have significant capacity even after that, so GM is working with utility companies to recycle them for use in load leveling.

Another possibility is that with GM's new board ordering an acceleration of efficient model introductions it could be that instead of waiting for Nov. 2010 it'll be introduced sooner, but 230 days would be nearly halving it.

It could somehow refer to the recently announced Buick plug-in SUV with LiION's and an all-electric range, but how that relates to the number 230 no one can figure out unless it's the things name.

One remote possibility is that GM's admitted continuing contacts with EESTOR have born fruit and the capacity of the battery has suddenly been raised.

They've been claiming that their hyperpure aqueous process barium titanate/silicon dioxide ultracapacitor has several times the capacity of LiION in a much smaller package, allowing for a 50-80 kWh battery in a compact vehicle (Volt's LiION is 16 kWh).

Giving some serious credibility is that they've been working hand in glove with Lockheed Martin on military and space apps for a year. That and a GM battery exec when asked if they had seen an EESTOR cell gave an answer indicating confidentiality rather than a yes or no. Hmmmm....

If that worked and made its way into a Volt....

Making things all the more intriguing is that a conversation between EESTOR's founder and a venture capital firm was recorded and leaked, and there was some extremely interesting stuff in there.

[paulw]

It's going to be the new national domestic voltage in the US

[Technoid]

no, you have 220V in Europe, with the UK having 240V.. then they standardized by saying it was 230V, but with a bigger margain of error

Sorry to say this but at least in Sweden we do have 230v, Since all the old power supplies for Märklin rails are built for 220 and now gives to much.

If the UK are still 240 its jut one another thing in which they refuse to do, like metric

[Evildead666]

So you're saying it could be 230mpg, but that the vehicle can't do 230 miles on a single charge. ?

This would be equivalent of Politico-values....making big numbers look good.
Anything can be spun to look good, just depends how you look at it....

[Fat Tone]

You are all missing the obvious. Surely its 230 MPH!!!

[Tjalfe]

Sorry to say this but at least in Sweden we do have 230v, Since all the old power supplies for Märklin rails are built for 220 and now gives to much.

If the UK are still 240 its jut one another thing in which they refuse to do, like metric

so they finally changed over.. I swear, when I was still living in Denmark, it was officially 230V, but in reality it was 220V

[Dr Mordrid]

What I'm saying is that the protocol set by Argonne calls for two cycles to be tested: EV only for x miles then gas-only for x miles when testing EREV's. The mileage for EV mode would be rated using a factor converting miles/kWh into mpg. Range extender would be rated without battery use.

As for the gasoline equivalency - the cycle takes into account the efficiency of the grid, the fuel to pump path and the relative scarcity of the fuels involved in generation (oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear etc.), so it's an all-in rating. Once crunched the equivalency is 82.049 kWh/gal with gasoline priced at $3.50/gallon.

This is exactly what was used to test the Tesla and, in the future, other EV's. Factoring in $3.50/gallon gasoline this gave the Tesla a rating of 350 MPGge (higher because it's all EV vs. EV+range extended).

Problem is that it takes many hours on a 220v charger to 'fill' a Tesla once 'dry' while EREV's are only limited by the size of their tank, just like any other car, making them more practical if trips longer than 125 miles are involved. Also their batteries are much smaller, which translates into cheaper.

I guess the 'rub' if any is that the EPA ratings are established with runs of no more than about 11 miles even for a conventional cars highway/city. This for the Volt would mean the test would only use about a quarter of the Volt's EV range capability and the range extender mode, as stated, quite a bit less than a quart of gas.

Then again what mpg test, regardless of vehicle type, uses tank size as a criteria? None that I know of.

[Umfriend]

You are all missing the obvious. Surely its 230 MPH!!!

In 10 secs!

[Fat Tone]

Metric or Imperial seconds?

[Dr Mordrid]

Just heard that the event is an all day affair and that they'll also announce a Buick plug-in two mode hybrid SUV crossover. Leaks are it'll get up to 70 mpg. Slated for 2011.

Just for giggles - a sportier concept for the Cadillac Converj (also Voltec drive)



and the coupe shown this year at the Detroit Auto Show (production 2012)

[Dr Mordrid]

Here it is.....

(image of Toyota's CEO falling off his chair....)

from Bloomberg....

Chevrolet Volt Said to Get 230 Miles Per Gallon in City Driving

Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co. expects its Volt electric car to earn a fuel-economy rating of at least 230 miles per gallon for city driving, more than four times that of Toyota Motor Corp.’s Prius hybrid, people familiar with the plans said.

Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson will announce the rating and combined city-highway mileage of more than 100 mpg today at a new-vehicle exhibition at GM’s technical center in Warren, Michigan, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the details aren’t public.

The Volt will receive “a higher number than anyone would expect,” GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, 77, said by e-mail yesterday. He wouldn’t say what the mileage will be.

GM said in September it reached an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on a testing method that would yield a rating of at least 100 mpg for the Volt, which will be able to go 40 miles (64 kilometers) on battery power before tapping an onboard gasoline engine for a recharge.
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