Save the Date: Chevy Volt Plug-in Hybrid Coming in 2010

The concept car that stole the spotlight at this year’s Detroit auto show is coming to a Chevrolet dealer near you, in 2010 — the internal date GM has set to produce the Chevy Volt plug-in electric hybrid. Despite the Reuters story and headline, the Volt is not entirely electric.

The main issue holding the vehicle back is the development of the lithium-ion batteries that will power the car’s electric motor. GM’s main product guru, Bob Lutz, says a working prototype is expected by the end of this year. Ford is already running a similar hybrid prototype that uses a hydrogen fuel cell as a back-up generator, as opposed to the Volt’s gasoline generator. Either one acts as a backup to recharge the batteries. GM won wide media praise for the Volt concept; now we’ll see how good its follow-through is.

[AUTOSHOW-GM Targets 2010 Production for All-Electric Car, Reuters via GMInsideNews]

Related:
Cars.com Chevy Volt Video (YouTube)
2007 Detroit Auto Show: Chevrolet Volt Plug-in Hybrid Concept
Ford's Plug-in Electric Hydrogen Hybrid Edge

Comments

2010? I'll believe it when I see it. I'm sure there will be some sort of 'delay' and it'll be like 2012 before they finally cancel it. I mean, it is GM.

you have a point, but it also depends on the price of gas and how other hybrids are selling. and how much we want it.

remember, GM got the new Silverado trucks out 6 months early because they saw the business case for it and so far it seems to have worked. I'm not sure which GM you're watching lately but they seem pretty on the ball the past two or three years.

Dave, OHV and Li-ion are completely different technologies. One is fully developed, the other - check out Tesla Motors' blog entries to see what they think.

There's a neat editorial in April's (I think) Car and Driver about how GM has constantly been writing 'blank checks' over the years, promising something, then never delivering. I think this will likely be another case of that. The Volt won't be here for 2010, unless there's some sort of miracle. GM would pretty well need to have the Li-ion batteries ready by now, and obviously, they don't.

I would only believe this story if it was Honda or Toyota. I have as much of a chance of producing the Volt as GM does. They have been writing blank checks for many, many years. There was a great article a few months ago in Forbes on how Toyota hired an executive outside of the automobile industry to deliver the Prius project 2 full years ahead of schedule as the market demanded such. It just goes to show who is producing real products and who is producing empty pr stories. I look forward to the day that Toyota is 'the' American car company. They've earned it.

" ...to deliver the Prius project 2 full years ahead of schedule as the market demanded such."

That pretty much says it all. If there's demand they'll build it. There's no demand for a hydrogen powered car or an inferior electric car. Toyota learned this when they tried selling the electric Rav4. When they didn't sell, Toyota started destroying them just as GM did with the EV1.

All manufacturers are simply trying to make money—GM just isn't very good at it.

The original design of the chevy volt was awsome, but I'm not too thrilled with the final design. It looks just like a chevy malibu with it's trunk cut off. I give the internal engineering an A+ though. (D- on external style). Kudos to the engineers who solved the problem of short distance electric cars by using an in-line generator.

I can see a volt in my future only if there are plans to have a Hydrogen fuel cell installed?

ooooo....pretty..:0