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GM CEO Fritz Henderson announced today that the Chevrolet Volt extended range electric car has been given an official EPA rating of more than 230 MPG city and a combined city/highway average fuel economy of more than 100 MPG.

While the price is expected to be around $40,000 when the Volt rolls out in late 2010, GM’s goal is to get the price down to around $20,000 for the G2 (generation 2) models.

“The beauty of the Volt’s design is much more than just surface deep. The interior and exterior design is an important element of the Volt’s overall mission to be the most energy-efficient Chevy ever.”
Bob Boniface, Director of Design, Chevrolet Volt

The Volt is also designed to go 40 miles without using a drop of gas, so if you commute less than 40 miles, you can do so without ever using any gas.

Unlike traditional electric cars, Chevy Volt has a revolutionary propulsion system that takes you beyond the power of the battery. It will use a lithium-ion battery with a gasoline-powered, range-extending engine that drives a generator to provide electric power when you drive beyond the 40-mile battery range.

Under the new methodology being developed, EPA weights plug-in electric vehicles as traveling more city miles than highway miles on only electricity. The EPA methodology uses kilowatt hours per 100 miles traveled to define the electrical efficiency of plug-ins. Applying EPA’s methodology, GM expects the Volt to consume as little as 25 kilowatt hours per 100 miles in city driving. At the U.S. average cost of electricity (approximately 11 cents per kWh), a typical Volt driver would pay about $2.75 for electricity to travel 100 miles, or less than 3 cents per mile.