Chevrolet Volt - GM's Concept EV

GM’s Chevrolet Volt concept sedan is a battery-powered, four-passenger electric vehicle that uses a gas engine to create additional electricity to extend its range.

The Volt can be fully charged by plugging it into a 110-volt outlet for approximately six hours a day. When the lithium-ion battery is fully charged, the Volt can deliver more than 60 city kilometers of pure electric vehicle range. When the battery is depleted, a 1.0-liter, three-cylinder turbocharged engine spins at a constant speed, or revolutions per minute (rpm), to create electricity and replenish the battery.

If a driver forgets to charge the vehicle or goes on a vacation far away, the Volt would still get 4.7 l/100 km by using the engine to convert gasoline into electricity and extending its range up to 1030 km, more than double conventional vehicles. The Chevrolet Volt is also designed to run on E85, an ethanol-gasoline mixture.

A technological breakthrough required to make this concept a reality is a large lithium-ion battery. This type of electric car, an “EV range-extender,” could require a battery pack that weighs nearly 400 pounds (181kg). Such a battery could be production-ready by 2010 to 2012.