 Since the Edmunds and The New York Times pieces however , numerous rebuttal articles have surfaced that have identified various flaws in the methodologies and calculations used by Edmunds and TrueCar in their estimation of the Volt 's pay @-@ back period . Namely both sources strict use of the Volt 's " gasoline engine only " EPA fuel economy rating of 37 mpg , when in fact when operated as intended any real @-@ world use will most typically include an initial 38 miles of all @-@ electric power during which zero gasoline would be consumed . Thus resulting in significantly higher total fuel economy that admittedly will be entirely dependent on how often and how far the car is driven . Many of these articles further suggest that the usage model used by TrueCar of 114 trips of 131 mi ( 211 km ) per trip was not typical of the majority of American daily driving patterns , and their use of a projected cost US $ 3 @.@ 85 per gallon as the cost of gasoline throughout the entire payback period quite unrealistic . An article from the online automotive publication The Truth About Cars indicates that when the Volt is charged and driven daily exclusively on its available electric power for its EPA rated 38 miles of all @-@ electric range ( 13 @,@ 780 mi ( 22 @,@ 180 km ) annually ) the payback period for the Volt would be much lower and similar to that of other plug @-@ in electric @-@ cars such as the Nissan Leaf or approximately 8 @.@ 7 years ( as indicated by TrueCar ) . 
