Smog, not CO2. It was a quote from the article.
“The per mile cost is identical with a 60 mpg car with gas at $3.”
According to Kelly Blue Book it is 98 mpg equivalent for the Chevy Volt and 114 mpg equivalent for the Nissan Leaf.
Of course those numbers are dependent on gas prices and, admittedly, my 60% figure was calculated before the recent drop in gas prices. However, who really believes that the Saudis are gonna keep the price this low for very long?
Those numbers are BS. We get 12.7 kWh of electricity per gallon of petroleum (http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=667&t=2) and lose 10-15% getting it to the consumer.
The Volt gets about 45 miles from a charge and it takes about 12 kWh to charge the battery. So the Volt is about 40 mpg.
The Leaf uses 34 kWh per 100 miles or about 33 mpg.