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At Last: Behind the Wheel of Volt Test Mule (http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/archives/2008/06/) by Bob Lutz, June 5, 2008

This week we announced that the GM Board has approved the Chevrolet Volt program. Yes, development work has been going on in earnest, but now it’s official. In fact, recently, at GM’s Milford Proving Ground, I drove an official “engineering development vehicle” with the 16-kwh lithium-ion battery pack we’ve been testing for our E-Flex System and I have to say – pun half-intended – it was electrifying.

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-mr. bill

So Bob was just now able to drive a prototype of the Volt drivetrain, that "wasn't properly calibrated," that was installed in an older generation Malibu -- and their claimed production date is only 2 years away?

Ouch. Making a prototype is the easy part. Except for the batteries there's nothing new about any of this technology, and for a few grand even the batteries could be cobbled together easily enough for a prototype. Making the product in large volumes and maintaining even rudimentary quality consistency is a much bigger undertaking. Honda has had prototype FCVs on the roads for years and they still haven't reached large scale production. Even Toyota, with a million hybrids under its belt, is having difficulty with Li batteries. Developing even a conventional car and getting it into production takes 4-5 years and 2-3 billion dollars. What's production readiness of the Volt gonna take? I hope GM pulls this off, but they've got a steep curve ahead of them.