GM Charges Up the Electric Chevy Volt

GM introduces the Chevy Volt, a sleek electric car capable of 40 mpg on a single charge

By David Welch

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Some critics have called the Chevrolet Volt, the electric car General Motors (GM) plans to sell in 2010, vaporware. Other skeptics have doubted the company could get the needed lithium-ion batteries ready for market by then.

But in a play to show that GM will get beyond its current financial struggles and challenge Toyota (TM) in the technology game, Chairman and CEO G. Richard Wagoner Jr. showed the production version of the car at a 100th anniversary event for the automaker at its Detroit headquarters. "The Volt is symbolic of what GM is today—cutting-edge design and technology," he said.

GM first showed the Volt in January 2007 at the Detroit Auto Show (BusinessWeek.com, 7/01/07) in an attempt to show it was pushing ahead with advanced technology. While GM and its bread-and-butter Chevrolet brand were trying to buoy pickup truck and SUV sales amid rising gasoline prices, rival Toyota was winning converts with its Prius (BusinessWeek.com, 6/6/08)> and several other hybrid electric cars.

The Volt is an attempt to leapfrog over the Priuss reputation for technology and make GMs Chevy brand—known more for trucks and muscle cars than tech savvy—relevant in todays market. Says Global Insight analyst John Wolkonowicz: "This is exactly what Chevy needs."

40 Miles on a Single Charge

The car is more advanced than todays hybrids, which typically run most of the time on a gasoline engine, getting a boost from electric motors to improve fuel economy.

The Volt is completely different. It is engineered to run purely off the electric motor for up to 40 miles on a single charge from a home outlet. After that a four-cylinder gasoline engine kicks in to charge the battery. The car would get more than 50 mpg if the driver drains the battery and uses a tank of gas. But the company says most drivers commute less than 40 miles a day, so theyll rarely use gasoline.

GM was expected to announce that the controversial car is on the way to being showroom-ready. The only surprise is that the vehicle's design drifted from the original concept car, which was sportier than the production model GM displayed in Detroit. The new one isnt bland by any stretch, but GM Vice-Chairman Robert A. Lutz explained that the car had to change to make it more aerodynamic and cost-effective.

Design Change

First, Lutz said, the car will be built using similar underpinnings of GMs future family of compact cars. In that sense, the Volt will be a cousin of the Chevrolet Cruze compact (BusinessWeek.com, 7/10/08), which goes on sale in Europe in March and the U.S. a year later.

That allows GM to share some parts with a family of compacts that will sell hundreds of thousands of copies a year worldwide. The tradeoff is that the Volt loses the longer hood and sporty stance of its concept car.