[factoryrat]

The energy contained in all of the Volt's batteries equals about 1 GALLON of gasoline. Pound for pound, hydrocarbon fuels contain much more energy than any current battery technology. The trick is to extract as much energy out of a pound of fuel as the state of the art will allow. The closest technology we have that will work is fuel cells. Hydrocarbons are a storage medium of energy, basically stored sunshine. Chemical to electrical to torque at the wheels with the least loses during the conversion process will win. This is an engineering exercise clouded by political and financial interests. The solution to any engineering exercise is to attack the problem from all angles.

[nascarnation]

Nat gas fueled IC engines will trump battery for vehicles, I believe.

The economics of nat gas vs gasoline/diesel are getting better nearly every day.