WASHINGTON — General Motors Corp. has told federal regulators they should not count on any fuel economy gains from the upcoming Chevrolet Volt or other plug-in hybrids when setting new efficiency standards, saying such vehicles would be built in low numbers through 2015.

The comments counter the enthusiasm GM and others have been building for the Volt as a revolutionary model with technology to reduce oil consumption and leapfrog Toyota Motor Corp.’s lead in hybrids. GM’s has set a goal for the Volt to travel 40 miles on batteries charged from a home outlet, with a engine powering electric motors providing an additional range of a few hundred miles.

GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told the Free Press last month that the automaker planned to build 10,000 Chevrolet Volts in 2011, the vehicle’s first full year of production, and 60,000 the following year. He added that the goal was highly dependent on battery and electrical suppliers, and that GM was still targeting a sales price of less than $40,000.

Earlier this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed a 25% increase in fuel economy rules from 2011 through 2015 model years, with costs to GM alone estimated at $17.3 billion. NHTSA based its rules on product plans from GM and other automakers, along with its own models of the costs and benefits from various fuel-saving technologies.

At the time, NHTSA said no automaker had provided enough information about plug-in hybrid vehicles to use them in its models. It said it would ask automakers for updated plans and incorporate estimates of plug-in hybrid production into its final rule, expected before the end of the year.

But GM told the agency last week that plug-in hybrids and Volt-type models – what GM calls EREV for extended range electric vehicles – “present numerous challenges” in being built.

“For the purposes of the NHTSA rulemaking, GM’s game-changing EREV technology should be treated as a low-volume application during the time period under consideration,” the automaker said in a filing. “We strongly discourage NHTSA from applying either PHEV or EREV technology in any significant volume in its … model during the 2011-2015 timeframe.”

GM spokesman Greg Martin said the automaker was trying to set “reasonable perspectives” with regulators.

“We’ve been very cautious in terms of the volume, just because of the innovation and the technology associated with that vehicle,” Martin said. “There’s a note of caution that, yes the technology is breakthrough, it is a game-changer, but as with any new game-changing technology, there needs to be a reasonable expectation set in terms of volume.”

GM and other automakers criticized the proposed standards on several other fronts, saying the combined target of 31.6 m.p.g. for cars and trucks woefully underestimated the industry’s costs, and took no account of its financial challenges. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the trade group that includes Detroit automakers, said the rule would cut annual sales by 856,000 vehicles, triggering job cuts of 85,000 workers.

Environmental groups and some Democrats have pressed the Bush administration to make the proposed rules even tougher, since they rely on estimates for gasoline prices of about $2.30 a gallon through 2015, far below what the government’s experts now forecast. Higher gasoline price estimates would make more expensive technologies viable under the government’s model, despite the increased burden on automakers.

Contact JUSTIN HYDE at 202-906-8204 or jhyde@freepress.com.

via freep