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Jammer,
You're right that the rest of the country is not as Chevy friendly these days. In Northeast TN I see way more Honda's than anything else. We have three to four dealerships within thirty miles depending on what part of the tricities you live in. Any time I pull up to a stop light I have a habit of counting what manufacturer is represented. Most of the time there are multiple Honda's and just one of everything else.
This is clearly not representative of the rest of the country because Toyota's sales numbers are higher so I am sure there is a region where everyone drives a Toyota and has never heard of anything else...
The volt's MPG and efficiency are definitely a stunt that most of us here recognize. MPGe shouldn't be measured in equivalent energy stored(how they got the really high 230) but in a conversion of cost/mile or if you prefer a less useful metric CO2/mile.
They didn't do that on purpose. 230 mpg sounds pretty impressive even here in the hypermile community, out there it sounds astounding. When compared to the cost/mile of a diesel or a sipper gasser its not all that impressive. The volt probably gets less than 1 kwhr for 33 miles like most of the EVs here get close to. Its just too heavy and too big(CDa). That kept in mind with charging inefficiencies, battery depletion/lifetime, the car to go 40 miles on EV reliably would need at least 10 KWhr or the batteries woul go belly up after 2 years.
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