Update: Progress on the GM Volt

The Chevy Volt has the potential to greatly reduce our use of oil.
It is in our best interest to make oil nearly obsolete. I have
delcared Jihad against oil, and urge others to join me.
www.oiljihad.org - Death to oil!

If you want the latest info on the developmental progress of the
VOLT, don't come here - go to www.gm-volt.com, a non-official
website that has tons of info, up to the minute. "improvement of
battery technology is the main hurdle" is an obsolete statement at
this point. Both A123 Systems and LG have batteries that meet GM
specs (15 year lifespan, cost reqs, power reqs, etc). What hasn't
been demoed (or prehaps even constryucted) are the rather
straightforward battery management schemes used to operate the
cells as an integrated pack. That is pretty straightforward
engineering and both battery companies have expressed themselves as
"very confident" that this will not be an issue. The VOLT seems to
be ahead of schedule and there is speculation that the battery
costs will be lower than expected. As for GM "figuring out" the
design, that's absurd - the vehicle follows so closely their fuel
cell vehicle design that many of the parts from that car are
showing up in the VOLT without any change. The entire ball of wax
for this vehicle is to obtain what the EV-1 desperately needed - an
economical battery and an extended driving range.