WASHINGTON : September 27, 2008 - Will the Volt break the 100 mpg barrier?

General Motors Corp. said Friday it has reached a preliminary agreement with the California Air Resources Board about how to classify its Chevy Volt in terms of emissions standards that could allow the extended-range electric vehicle to attain the 100-miles-per-gallon rating.


That's a significant step for the automaker because the actions of the California board, known as CARB, often influence federal regulatory decisions. GM has been in talks with CARB and the Environmental Protection Agency for more than a year on how to rate the Volt.

Achieving a 100-mpg rating would give GM a strong marketing message and boost its ability to comply with significantly higher fuel economy standards.

"The final number has a tremendous impact on educating consumers," said Robert Peterson, a GM spokesman, comparing it to the "four-minute mile."

GM plans to begin building the rechargeable Volt in November 2010 and says it will be able to travel up to 40 miles on electric power alone.

But determining the miles per gallon for a plug-in vehicle is completely different than testing an internal combustion engine.

CARB is in the process of rewriting its plug-in emissions testing procedures and plans a Dec. 11 public meeting to finalize them, said John Swanton, an air pollution specialist with CARB.

"We trying to make sure we have the proper yardstick to measure all plug-in vehicles," Swanton said. "We want to encourage innovation by all automakers."

EPA spokeswoman Catherine Milbourn said the agency cannot confirm an efficiency rating "for any plug-in hybrid electric vehicle since we're still developing policy for testing, measuring, and reporting fuel economy for this technology."

She said EPA hopes "to have a final policy soon" and will issue a public letter describing it.

Don Foley, the executive director of the $10 million Progressive Automotive X Prize -- a competition to find the first 100-mpg (or energy equivalent) vehicle -- said policy makers should move away from just looking at gasoline.

"Reliance on an mpg standard alone will soon be outdated and will not accurately reflect the need for higher fuel efficiency," he said, adding that there is a new "proposed unit of measure, MPGe -- miles per gallon or energy equivalent."

MPGe is a measure that expresses fuel economy in terms of the energy content of a gallon of gasoline, asking how much energy was delivered to the vehicle, and how far did it go, Foley said.

For GM, the Volt's propulsion will come from its lithium-ion battery and a small gasoline engine. The Detroit automaker said it has chosen its battery supplier but hasn't made it public. GM has been using technology from both Massachusetts-based A123 and Troy-based Compact Power Inc., a unit of the Korean LG Chem.

Prabhakar Pratil, CEO of Compact Power, said during a speech Friday to the Washington Automotive Press Association that even the company didn't know if it had won the contract. He said Compact needed to find out by year's end whether they would be selected.

GM's Peterson said "we don't have a signed contract" with either supplier but confirmed a deal would be completed by year's end.

"I'm going forward as if we were going to be selected, because to me the worst thing to fight will be time and we don't want to happen," Pratil said. "I need about 18 months lead time in order to set up the manufacturing facility and capability."

He said the Volt posed special issues. "We had to pack so much battery in the available space that there was no room for air flow and so that battery will be liquid cooled," Pratil said.

GM officially unveiled its production version of the Volt on Sept. 16 during the company's 100th anniversary celebration.

[Source : Detroit News]