We have made an upward revision to the fuel-economy numbers for the Volt that we originally published in the October issue of Consumer Reports. When running on gasoline (aka charge-sustaining mode) rather than pure electric power, the highway-driving portion of the test moved from 36 to 41 mpg. The city figure got bumped from 21 to 23 mpg.
Our revision was prompted by General Motors, the Volt’s manufacturer, which alerted us to a previously unnoticed phenomenon peculiar to the car. Since in gas mode the engine devotes some of its power to partially recharging the drive battery to maintain it at about 20 to 25 percent state-of-charge, our original fuel count may have included more than the amount just needed to propel it. Our revision excludes those battery-maintenance portions to give a better idea of how much fuel the Volt uses once the electric portion is depleted.
This change boosts our overall-average fuel economy for the Volt from 29 to 32 mpg and raises the Volt’s road-test score from 67 to 68. The revision does not affect the Volt’s consumption while acting as an EV, which at 2.93 miles/kWh works out to be the equivalent of 99 mpg.
Read our Chevrolet Volt road test.
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