The Volt lives!

Ever since I saw the concept for the Chevy Volt in January 2007 I have been watching for updates, and low and behold here it is! Final form, for sale in 2010. A little more standard looking than their concept car was, but still really slick.And all the fuel saving electric goodness is there too.

• A 16kWh battery pack that will run the car for 40 miles on electric only
  
• A 1.4L engine generator that runs on gas or ethanol to re-charge the battery while driving
• The electric engine produces 150 horsepower and a huge 273 lb-ft of torque that because it is electric is available instantly, rather than having to spin your engine up to 5,000 RPM. So acceleration is linear, compared to a gas engine where you start slow then speed up.
  
• Regenerative braking
  
• Great aerodynamics - but they didn't give any numbers
• 3 hr charging on a 230v outlet, 8 hrs on a standard 120v
• Costs about $1 to drive 40 miles.
  

But how much will it cost, and when can people buy it? No hard dates or numbers yet, but it should be out in 2010 and cost a bundle. But depending on how you drive, the fuel savings would be incredible. The photo here is a 20 mile radius from our house, so if we had a volt we could go roughly out to there and back with out using a drop of gas. Of course it is as the crow files, so road miles would be smaller, but you get the idea. So for 95% of the time we would have a $.02 a mile car, and that would turn into a 40mpg car ($.10 a mile) the rest of the time. Now that's cool!