230 MPG? Not really.

So maybe you've heard of the new Chevy Volt. They're saying it gets 230 miles to the gallon of gasoline. There's just one little problem with that calculation: it applies to when the car is running only on electricity and not gasoline. The way a hybrid car works is that it runs on electricity and, when it runs out, it runs on gasoline. So if you're only driving for, say, 10 miles at a time, charging the car up completely each time, you are getting mileage like that! If you want to drive 100 miles in one go, you're out of luck. When the Chevy Volt is out of electricity and is running on gasoline, it gets only 50 miles to the gallon. Now don't get us wrong, that is AWESOME, but it's not 230 MPG. So don't expect to be able to drive cross-country with the Volt on one charge and full tank without doing at least some environmental damage. The Volt is still an excellent jump forward for the American clean car industry and great news for the environmentalist movement (and it looks so freaking cool too!)