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“What does this mean? If your Volt is out of battery juice, and you hit the hills, you will not be able to keep up with the normal flow of traffic. Instead you will be in the right lane, possibly even in the emergency lane, puttering up the hill.”

Well that is some nice wild speculation you have there, truly befitting of an internet post. How about real-world evidence, shall we?

First of all, GM did a lot of testing on Pike's Peak before releasing the Volt. But forget what GM says, what actual owners have experienced is nothing like what you describe. You see, when the Volt is normally “out-of-juice” and switches to gasoline mode, it actually has a large buffer of charge that is unused. If you forgot to use Mountain Mode and end up having to go up a mountain in theses situations, it uses some of that buffer to maintain normal speeds. (All Mountain Mode does is increase the size of that buffer.)

One owner posted an extensive report of his testing of this feature and found that he was unable to deplete this buffer in his 6 mile test up a 5% grade at 65 mph. Another owner on a much longer test was able to deplete the buffer. At that point his Volt gave him a “Propulsion Power is Reduced” warning and his speed was reduced to 57 mph until he cleared the hill.

“It doesn’t really have a gas mode - it has a limp home mode.”

I think 57 mph is more than adequate for steep inclines. I don't think anyone would honestly call it a “limp home mode.”