Chevy Volt could jolt your pocketbook

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The Chevy Volt’s sky-high fuel economy numbers may not be the bargain they appear, according to online auto site Edmunds.com.

General Motors Co. said today that its much-anticipated plug-in hybrid will get 230 miles per gallon in city driving, based on the automaker’s preliminary calculations. Highway mileage will be less impressive, although GM isn’t releasing those numbers just yet.

The folks at Edmunds.com think the Volt’s numbers will decline dramatically for many drivers when the car is subjected to real-world conditions. But even if it did get 230 mpg all day, every day (which works out to a paltry 65.2 gallons of gas to drive 15,000 a year), the Volt would still be a wallet-killer compared with other hybrids now on the market. Blame the car’s expected high sticker price.

The Volt, which GM plans to have in showrooms late next year, is widely rumored to cost around $40,000. Even with the $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles, it would take 9.5 years’ worth of gas savings to make up for the difference in price between the Volt and the Chevy Malibu hybrid, which sells for around $24,000 after rebates and tax credits, according to Edmunds.com. (They based their calculations on a national average gas price of $2.53 a gallon — a bit light by California standards.)

The Volt fares even worse against the Toyota Prius, the current industry fuel economy leader with a combined city-highway rating of 50 mpg. It would take more than 17 years to make up the cost difference with a Prius. The comparable figures are 15 years for the Honda Insight and 8.5 years for the Ford Fusion hybrid.

“Even if the Volt’s fuel savings could possibly be as dramatic as today’s numbers suggest, the expected purchase price will be much higher than that of existing hybrids, and it will take years to pay off its price premium,” notes Edmunds.com senior analyst Jessica Caldwell.

“And that doesn’t even take into account the slight bump in the electric bills of the owners who will plug it into their homes.”

To be fair, the Volt could come to market at a lower price than rumored, although GM has done little to tamp down the $40,000 speculation.

-- Martin Zimmerman