Plugged In

Auto industry icon Bob Lutz says the Chevy Volt will “go down in history as a true game-changer.” General Motors’ vice chairman isn’t just waxing enthusiastic -- he’s telling us what we want to hear. At least Lutz’s statements were a hit with the 300-strong audience who came to the inaugural Volt Nation event at the New York International Auto Show this March.

Organized by Volt-obsessed New York blogger Lyle Dennis, who has as many as 100,000 visitors a month to his site, Volt Nation was billed as a town hall meeting of fellow enthusiasts and GM executives, including the imposing Lutz. But the dozens of gawkers, journalists, and cameramen with klieg lights in hand crammed around the car and dais made the event feel more like an in-store appearance with Amy Winehouse -- complete with fans shouting praise like “This is the most exciting car I have ever heard about!”

Indeed, the sleek, eco-friendly Volt has garnered over-the-top praise ever since it debuted as a concept car January 2007 at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. It’s designed as an “extended-range” electric vehicle that, after charging its battery pack overnight via a standard wall outlet, can be driven up to 40 miles powered by electricity alone. That’s just about the maximum distance 78% of Americans drive in a given day, according to a 2003 U.S. Bureau of Transportation survey. For drivers traveling beyond that range, a gas generator kicks in to power the electric motor. In that scenario the Volt will get around 50 miles per gallon, compared to 46 mpg for the Toyota Prius, the Japanese automaker’s existing game-changer.

So people who drive locally to and from work, maybe stopping by the grocery store for some organic milk and whole-grain bread on their way home, will never use gas driving the Volt. I could drive from one tip of Manhattan to the other -- 13.4 miles in total -- nearly three times and be ecologically guilt-free. Unlike today’s hybrid vehicles, which require gas during acceleration and at high speeds -- and therefore produce emissions -- the extended-range electric Volt will almost never spit any noxious chemicals into the air.