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Correct me if I'm mistaken, but the way the "230 MPG" was calculated is this:
1. Operated over a simulated 50-mile test.
2. Volt makes it ~40 miles on battery power and gets a "gimme" for those 40 miles: no fuel burned.
3. Volt has to kick in ICE for last 10 miles (at roughly 46 MPG).
4. Total fuel burn: 10miles/46MPG=0.22 gal
5. Total distance travelled: 50 mi.
6. MPG rating: 50/0.22~=230MPG.
This makes sense, given that the ICE has to take an efficiency hit for going from mechanical energy, to electric, back to mechanical. I would expect its efficiency to be roughly equal to a standard hybrid when operating on gas.
I'm from coal country, and I know coal is dirty business--the mining for sure, no matter how much you clean up burning it. I'm unsold on electric for "save the planet" purposes; I'm much more inclined to support it on "slay the trade defecit" purposes--the US is pretty much the Saudi Arabia of coal.
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