I managed to get 1212 miles out of my first tank and I hope to be able to keep up the trend.
dcb there is a kilowatt cost there. The mpge value is the mileage on pure electricity. I personally don't know the equation the EPA used to figure out that number but it is out there in the vapours somewhere if you want to find it. A full charge on the Volt requires 12.7kwh of energy so at the national average of $0.11/kwh a full charge would cost $1.40. In my area we have time of use billing and the off hour rate is $0.05/kwh so my full charge costs me $0.63. You can enter your time of use schedule into the Volt and it will only charge when the best rates are available. To offset my extra energy consumption with the Volt I went around my house and replaced the most used incandescent bulbs with new LED bulbs. As a result I have actually seen my hydro bill go down! So personally I consider my electric consumption for the car as "free" because of the steps I've taken in my home to compensate. I consider the combined mpg to be the mileage I'm getting from the car. 173mpg.
There are also those who have the money and space have put in solar arrays to generate electricity to put back into the grid. They say they drive for free on electricity but personally I don't have that kind of money to drive for free. My income is much lower than the claimed average Volt owners wages. I'm responsable for keeping that number low, Jay Leno makes it much higher!
:LOL
The second gen Volt's should get much better CS mileage. GM has taken alot of flack for the CS mileage and has said they will better it in gen2. They explain that they didn't want to develop an engine specifically for the generator when they were engineering the Voltec drive system. So they pulled the Cruzes 1.4L motor off the shelf and used it. Though if you look at the system there is no reason why an adventurous ecomodder in the future couldn't swap out the 1.4L motor for something else. Not me though, I'm a chicken!
If you are regularly doing long cross country drives there are better choices out there than a Volt . A TDI comes to mind right away or even a Prius. The Volt is designed as a luxury commuter for those with a commute of less than 60-70 miles. Above that there are cars that can beat the Volts efficiency. But where the Volt shines is if you do have that lower mileage commute and you don't want to have that second long mileage backup car for the once or twice a year long haul, the Volt can still do that long mileage trip in comfort with a reasonable mpg.