That is, they think its 100 mpg. Or it would be if you were comparing a gas vehicle to a gas vehicle, which they’re not. But it’s as close to 100 mpg as you can get when comparing an apple to an orange – sort of.  And that’s the real story behind the press release.

GM announced that they have reached a preliminary agreement with US regulators to certify their Chevy “Volt” as the first 100 mpg car. But even the EPA said that their testing guidelines haven’t been finalized.

What the EPA needs to do in this case is nothing short of developing a new way of measuring fuel efficiency.  In the case of the Volt, they’ll need to develop a standard for vehicle’s that rely more heavily on electric than internal-combustion power.

In their statement on the matter, the EPA said they hope to have a methodology finalized soon and will report it then. GM offered to assist them in building this standard by sharing the road data they get from the Volt. The price of that cooperation was this preliminary certification that GM is hoping will generate early buzz and sales value for the Volt.

Jeff Green of Bloomberg News scored this quote that puts the announcement in perspective:

“It’s a huge milestone to beat 100 mpg. It’s bragging rights,” said Rebecca Lindland, an analyst at Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Mass. “To many people, GM is just about gas-guzzling SUVs. They never get credit for fuel economy. If Toyota were doing the Volt, they would be having parades and waving flags.”

GM scored another victory of a longer term and more far reaching sort with this agreement. By helping to establish the standard, they are able to mold that standard somewhat to empasize their core strengths, or highlight certain  performance factors and to help shut out their rivals by downplaying others.

There are many fundamental differences in how the Volt operates as opposed to the current generation of electric hybrids. As planned, the Volt will have a 40 mile range before its onboard generator kicks in. The car can be plugged in at home for recharging.

Today’s Toyota Prius, for contrast, is not rechargable and can only drive a couple of miles on battery power alone. It is the current miles per gallon champ, getting 48 mpg city and 45 mpg on the highway.

However, several announcements have been made over the past few months by individual experimenters and aftermarket conversion companies who report success in converting the Prius to a plugin hybrid with significantly higher mileage; some claiming near 100 mpg equivalents.

That would put the two vehicles on an equal footing for gas mileage comparisons. The Volt is to be released in late 2010, giving both GM and Toyota nearly two years to work on breaking the 100 mpg barrier, or whatever the EPA will call its new measure of performance.

When you bought your car you may recall learning that your car should get XYZ miles per gallon (mpg). Off you drove, secure in the knowledge that since you were getting XYZ miles per gallon and you had a 14 gallon tank (the average size now), you would need to fill up every ABC miles and it should cost you DEF.

Oh for the days of DEF! Or even for the days of just driving ABC miles. The average American now faces a 29 mile round trip commute to work. In addition to living further away from where we worked 50 years ago, we also live further away from the grocery store, our children’s playmates, and where we go to relax and unwind after work.

Until the end of 2007, we could at least take heart in the fact that the XYZ miles per gallon part of our calculation remained the same. All that changed in January, 2008.

That’s when the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new gas mileage calculators went into affect. It’s the first time the numbers have changed in more than 20 years.

Over those twenty years minor fluctuations in values evened out and the EPA was left with solid evidence that led them to include and weight certain factors in their formulas differently than the original numbers.

Three factors in particular made a big impact on the changed numbers. The effects of colder outside temperatures in the winter and running your air conditioner to create colder inside temperatures in the summer were added to gas mileage calculators for the first time. Faster accelerations and faster driving speeds overall than had previously been calculated were also added to the calculations.

These are not the only factors that go in to the EPA ratings. That’s why the EPA continues to remind everyone that “your mileage may vary.” In fact, some of the other criteria they look at could

How and where you drive and the overall condition of your vehicle are also key. Fuel variations, vehicle variations, and age of your vehicle are also important. For example, that “sports car package” of options you purchased that put that great looking spoiler on your trunk could also be spoiling your mpg rating compared to cars that are otherwise identical but don’t have the spoiler.

Convert old MPG estimates to new estimate

**You must have javascript enabled in your browser as this will open a small window that includes the calculator.

Calculating this difference is just the first step in determining what your gas mileage rating really is. It will give you a ballpark figure of what you can expect only. To get the more accurate reading of your mileage that you need to visit:

Two Methods to Calculate Your Gas Mileage

No more. Now we know that all an idling car is doing it burning your gas and getting you no where.

As obvious as that may seem to some people, there are many more “obvious” gas saving measures that are ignored everyday. This video includes many of them. I hope to share the project I’ve been working on that will help you put together what you learn here about monitoring and measuring your miles per gallon with driving tips and techniques that can significantly improve your mileage within two months. That makes now a great time to make sure the basics are covered. Thanks to Saab for putting them all together in a way that isn’t too salesy too.
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