This is a step beyond the Prius, it is all electric in a sense, i.e. no transmission, pony motor/generator juice goes to electric motor. The battery is for the short term, i.e. they couldn't design an electric aero or light enough, so they came up with what I call a semi-electric. The sweet spot is the Lithium-Ion battery allow this where as if it was a lead acid battery it would be basically have the same range as these do it yourself electric conversion guys who tinker at home.
I got to meet a Volt Engineer in my social circles and had numerous conversions with him and another gnome in the business. The problem is the Batteries do not have the storage capacity to haul 4 large people up a hill in the cold or rain, or capture all re-gen braking @ 70 mph panic stop. So, until a miracle battery or an Ultra-capacitor comes along to do that, we will have a planform like this....
The trump card to this?
The 2012 Ford Fusion according to the auto press, gets a Gen III Hybrid Drive-train, Lithium Ion battery, Plug in capability and a new body on top or the Euro-Mondeo. My guess it makes the Volt look like yesterdays buffet cold cuts that stayed out without refrigeration.
A plug-in Fusion would rock! As far as I know - Ford owns ALL of their hybrid technology now. Ford and Toyo were sharing some things but I think Ford owns all their own stuff now.
As far as electric cars gay etc. If Ford can sell a plug-in hybrid close to the gas powered one it will be awesome. Build nuke power plants and tell the Saudis to go to h*ll.
We have toins of nat gas. Nuke and nat gas power plants.
THe Prius has no transmission, and is "all electric" in the exact same sense, except the Prius has a smaller battery capacity.
The problem is the Batteries do not have the storage capacity to haul 4 large people up a hill in the cold or rain, or capture all re-gen braking @ 70 mph panic stop.
The Prius has the same issue, and resolves it in a similar fashion, by using the gas engine directly along with the electric motor to provide extra power when needed. The gas engine is there, so why put in a large electric motor?
So maybe the Volt has simply added more batteries, an external charger, and come up with some other way to connect the gas engine to the main drivetrain. That remains to be seen. But it's really just another hybrid, just with more batteries.