Details of GM’s plans for the first-ever production model plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) were discussed in a report in today’s Financial Times.   The car is still scheduled for 2010 delivery.  Now we know that it’s 400 pound lithium-ion battery will have a 40 mile range and will be recharged on the move by a 4 cylinder gas engine which GM says will let the vehicle get about 150 miles per gallon.  

I suppose the engine cuts in automatically when the battery gets down to a certain amount of remaining power.  But if GM were clever enough to let the driver choose when to re-charge via the engine, some drivers might well get nearly infinite miles per gallon simply by driving less than 40 miles before recharging via the electric plug.  No doubt many drivers could easily do that. 

I’d bet the Volt will be a very popular car especially if oil prices spike higher after 2010, as I suspect they will.  I think people will love refueling their cars at home at night and they will love the quiet ride.  GM is seeking government subsidies, confirming estimates that the revolutionary power plant will be too expensive for average buyers. 

My advice to GM (they haven’t called yet): price it high and they’ll get all the exotic car early adopters they can supply.  Government will not be needed.   A friend of mine has already put his name on the waiting list and he’s somewhere over number 25,000.  I doubt they’ll make more than that the first year. 

GM estimates 300,000 - 500,000  PHEV’s will be on the road by 2015.  (SQM fans note: that’s 200 million pounds of lithium batteries.) This is clearly not enough cars to make any noticeable dent in global oil demand.  It might save 300 million gallons of gas a year, which is about 7 million barrels or maybe 20 kb/d.  And that is by 2015. 

The ironic reality may be that just as the future car that can free us of oil dependency makes its appearance, the world will be suffering from the worst oil shortage in history.  

Here’s is the full FT report:   

GM set to bring Volt electric car to Europe

By Bernard Simon in Toronto

Published: August 18 2008 03:00 | Last updated: August 18 2008 03:00

General Motors is planning to rebadge its Chevrolet Volt electric car as an Opel or Vauxhall to bring it to Europe as part of the US carmaker’s plans to expand the model range of its highly anticipated new vehicle.

GM is so encouraged by the development of the Volt that it has begun work on other similar vehicles.

Bob Boniface, the Volt’s design director, said several other models were at the scale-model stage of development. The Volt design studio, which employs close to 50 people, is being expanded to cope with the increased work.