http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/Chevrolet_Volt/The Chevy Volt is midsize, series-hybrid car. GM prefers to refer to it as "an Extended-Range Electric Vehicle," or E-REV. The distinction from traditional hybrids is important. All of the hybrids you can buy today -- like the Toyota Prius -- are parallel hybrids. They are essentially gasoline-powered cars with an electric motor to boost their gas mileage. The Volt is the opposite. It is a series hybrid -- an electric car with a small gasoline engine to boost its range.
GM says the gasoline engine will do less work in the Volt than in any previous hybrid. The electric motor, engineers claim, will be able to power the car all the way to 100 miles per hour, for up to 40 miles. The gasoline engine is just a generator that kicks in to recharge the batteries when they are near empty. In fact, some analysts believe the Volt may be capable of even longer battery-only cruises. Motor Trend reports, "engineers point out that the 40-mile range statistic bandied about is a conservative one that applies at the end of 10 years and 150,000 miles."
GM engineers estimate that the average driver will be able to travel 40 miles before the gasoline engine even ignites. But the range of the Volt under battery power alone will change based on how much weight it is carrying, how fast it is traveling, and other factors. The 40-mile figure is significant, however, because most Americans drive less than 40 miles per day. For many owners, the Volt would function as an electric car virtually all the time, using gasoline only when they took longer trips than they take on a typical day.
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On those occasions when the Volt does need to run on the gas-powered engine, GM anticipates that it will get around 230 mpg for city driving, and over 100 mpg for highway/city combined.
So, yes -- Ford's hybrids are currently more affordable. They're also considerably different. I'm hoping that enough of those who can afford to purchase the Volt do so. Someday when they're on the used car market, I hope to get one myself.