By Sharon Terlep, The Detroit News
General Motors Corp. still hopes to have the Chevrolet Volt on the road by 2010, CEO Rick Wagoner said on Thursday. But he cautioned that the timeline isnt a sure thing as the automaker works to develop the technology required to produce a battery powered car for the masses.

 

That's a hard position for GM to be in. On one had they must show any and all attempts/work on fuel effecient vehicles in order to look green these days while still selling Hummers and Tahoe's to soccer moms. So I'm sure some pressure is made to show the Volt and soon after give a production date.
On the other hand they must get this Volt right the first time. People arn't willing to be test subjects and GM can't do what they did with the EV1 program.
The Volt is still a great idea and a segement buster IMO but the tech and everthing must be there to start.

 

I just seen a commercial for it this morning. looks sweet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_J2Jx51XZs

 

Yeah, thats the same guy that plays the purple grapes in the underpants commercials.

 

He's also on the Wamu commercials.

 

This is a non-story, 2010 was never more than a hopeful target. The car would never have been a 2010 model year anyway.

 

Given that it's now 2008 and that there are only a handful of packs in existance, it would be an incredible leap of faith to say that production is feasible by 2011. That's only 3 years, and hell, it takes damn near that long to design, prototype, validate, and tool something as simple as a hood hinge. Nice to see that reality has set in!

 

Unless it misses the 2011 calendar year as a debut, nothing has really changed. Lutz used the end of 2010 as a hopeful target and said months ago that it would be tough to meet. So today, nothing has changed since then and 2010 remains a hopeful target.

 

The article continues:
Whether the Volt becomes reality hinges on GMs ability to develop a lithium-ion battery capable of powering a mass market car. A battery would drive the Volt's powertrain, and an onboard fueling system would recharge the battery while on the road. GM is working on a fueling system, which would be called E-Flex, that could run on gasoline, diesel fuel and hydrogen fuel cells. It's been almost a year since GM went public with plans to develop and build the Volt. The high profile effort is being hailed by many in the industry as a savvy and daring move. Others have dismissed the Volt as a publicity ploy by a company desperate to compete with Toyota Motor Co.'s well nurtured reputation as the greenest automaker.

 

Well GM is spending a TON of money advertising this thing, which could be going to products you can actually buy. I sure hope they know what they are doing.

 

^ Maybe its just to prop up its stock price.

 

I thought I'd read that they already tackled the battery problem?

 

They are advertising a car in which the technology hasnt been discovered yet.

 

I very much doubt that GM would be advertising the car if they hadn't already found a way to make it happen.

The big problem with the batteries was heat - GM intends to use liquid cooling to get around that issue.

 

I really hope they are able to get this thing out near their optimistic target date though. It's one car I would consider buying new. Actually, I think it's the only car I'd consider buying new at the moment I buy used because I'm a cheap bastard and don't mind a well-maintained second-hand car.