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Volt to Reportedly Have Ion, Saab, and BMW Styling Cues (Visit this link)
The Volt is not an electric car like the EV1. It uses a lithium ion battery that, during testing, has provided a full electric range of 40 miles. Beyond that, a small gasoline engine drives a generator that charges the batteries on the fly; you also can plug it in to 110-volt household outlet. The electric drivetrain, coupled with the internal combustion engine, give the car an expected range of 640 miles. GM is testing batteries from Continental and A123 Systems and hasn't decided which company will get the nod. "There's a chance it could be both," Peterson says, adding that GM's goal is to offer a battery that'll last 10 years or 150,000 miles. There's still a lot of work to do, as Lutz notes. "The 'test mule' I drove -- a previous generation Malibu -- wasn't calibrated properly, and there are an awful lot of tests that this battery must pass before it's cleared for production." We're still waiting to see what the car will look like. GM hasn't said when it will unveil the production model, but we're betting on seeing it at the Detroit Auto Show in January. For what it's worth, Aaron Bragman over at Global Insight has seen a model and tells us, "The production car looks much closer to a Saturn Ion. The front end looks kind of like a Saab, kind of like an Ion. The tail is still high. It looks a little BMW-esque."
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