Recycling components is nothing new in the automotive industry, but GM is taking the concept a step further by getting rid of some 100 miles of coated oil booms from last summer’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill and recycling them for use in the 2011 Chevrolet Volt.

The project is expected to create enough material for use in under the hood components, primarily for plastic radiator parts that help improve airflow around the car for the entire first year production of the Volt, which is pegged at approximately 10,000 cars.

GM has worked with several companies to get the project underway, including Heritage Environmental, which collects the boom material from the Louisiana coastline; Mobile Fluid Recovery which literally spin dries the boom material, removing oil and other coatings, ready for diecast mold production; Lucent Polymers, which preps the material and finally, GM’s Tier I supplier, GDC which manufactures the pieces ready for installation on the Volt at GM’s Hamtramck plant in Detroit.

“Creative recycling is one extension of GM’s overall strategy to reduce its environmental impact,” noted Mike Robinson, GM vice president of Environment, Energy and Safety policy during a press conference.  “We reuse and recycle material by-products at our 76 landfill-free facilities every day. This is a good example of using this expertise and applying it to a greater magnitude.”

It’s also another notch on the belt for a car that’s already become a darling among the eco set; recently the Green Car Journal named the 2011 Volt its car of the year.

Read AutoGuide’s Review of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt by Clicking Here

Chevrolet’s upcoming Volt plug-in hybrid will get 230 miles per gallon according to General Motors. The astonishingly high number comes as the result of new EPA methods for testing fuel mileage for PHEVs.

GM made the announcement today as a part of a product and technology event held at the company’s Design Center and Milford Proving Grounds.

How exactly GM came by that number we can’t say for sure, but we can say that it is for city driving only. Highway driving won’t be as high, but GM says that number will still be in the triple digits. What we do know is that the number is somewhat of an average between those who don’t ever need to gas up and those who do. 

GM also had this to say on the matter:

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.

The Volt will officially go on sale next year as a 2011 model and will be able to travel up to 40 miles on pure electric energy before the gasoline engine kicks in, extending the vehicle’s range to 300 miles.

Official release after the jump:

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