GM has finally released some much anticipated information on the 2011 Volt with the announcement of the Initial Ordering Workbook. It states that the MSRP will be set at $41,000 and that there will be six available colors to choose from: Silver Ice Metallic, Black, Crystal Red Tintcoat, White Diamond Tricoat, Cyber Gray Metallic and Viridian Joule Tricoat. The two tricoat and one tintcoat colors will be available for a premium cost, that is still yet unspecified.

Equipment packages also include:

• 17-inch 5-spoke forged polished aluminum wheels (RTN)
• Rear facing camera and Park Assist (PCW)
• Premium Trim (PCQ), which includes a leather-wrapped steering wheel, leather seat trim, and heated front seats

Some other neat features include push-button start, LED-based interior ambient lighting, 7-inch touch-screen, phone bluetooth and so much more! Just take a look at the PDF file and download the 2011 Volt Workbook.

Earlier this month GM announced that the Volt’s li-ion battery will pack an eight year or 100,000mile guarantee. This far surpasses GM’s conventional engine and transmission warranties by far. Although Toyota’s Prius and Ford’s Escape Hybrid have fairly similar warranties, the Volt’s battery pack will be working harder because it’s the car’s only power for up to 40miles before the Volt’s gas motor fires up. GM is hoping this news will further inspire confidence among potential buyers and EV skeptics.

Volt battery warranty will be transferable

A new Volt battery, weighing in at a hefty 400 pounds, will be in the thousands range to replace but GM is assuring the battery pack will last much longer than anyone is anticipating. A GM spokesman told CNN that Chevy Volt lithium-ion battery pack warranty will be transferable to new auto loans if the original owner wishes to sell the car.

Charge it up!

Finally we get some hard facts about what is needed to charge the battery and just how long it will take to get you back on the road again. With your standard 120-volt hookup, you will be looking at an overnight charge of 8-10hours, but only 4hours using a 240-volt hookup. Believe it or not but there are more than 150 components of the lithium-ion battery and more are covered by the GM warranty. Included in the warranty is the charging system, electric drive components and thermal management system. GM’s confidence in this new battery pack comes from a new technology that keeps the pack at optimal temperatures unlike the Nissan Leaf electric car which has an air-cooled battery. The Volt, being the first and only automobile, has a liquid-powered thermal management system.

Where’s the waiting list you say?

Unless you know someone it doesn’t look very promising to be able to get your hands on one of these Chevy Volt’s and that’s because it looks like GM is only going to build 10,000 Volts in 2011. They plan to increase that number 3 fold for 2012 but that isn’t expected to meet demand. GM will also be limiting where the car will be sold as well. Undecided as of now except for the District of Columbia and six states. Being that the Volt is new technology many are already expecting to pay sticker price or maybe in more, but in this case as it’s all unfolding that will an unfortunate expectation that almost undoubtedly be met. Initial advertised sticker price is hovering around $40,000 — or about $32,000 after Uncle Sam’s tax credit for electric cars.

Picture courtesy of Chevrolet.com

May 2oth GM’s Vice Chairman Bob Lutz announced that the Volt will be available for sale and also as a lease. Some feared that it would be a lease only option but obviously we are getting the best of both worlds here and you can choose what you want to do.

Still no price has been set on the Volt as of yet, even though we were told a price would be announced in May.

As you may already know Nissan has their price and even a waiting list for their newest EV Leaf, but GM has said that it’s Volt is not in the same

category as the Leaf and thus the EV’s price tags aren’t going to be in the same boat. “I (am) excited about other EV entries joining us in the vehicle electrification movement,” said GM’s Volt strategic marking manger John Hughes. ”It will take different types of EV’s at different price points to serve the varied needs of consumers just as there are SUV’s at various sizes and price points.”

So hopefully in the next month or so we will see a price for the Chevy Volt and possibly a waiting list??? Only time will tell…

Set to debut at the Geneva Motor Show, one of Opel’s newest concept vehicles may remind you a bit of a Chevrolet Volt. Why you ask? Well, it seems they have toyed with the idea of adding the Volt’s extended-range electric vehicle drivetrain in their Flextreme GT/E concept which basically looks like a larger scaled Volt. In this case it’s a mid-sized five-door hatchback. Up until now every car shown by GM with an ER-EV drivetrain has been a fairly compact in size vehicle. Opel just seems to be, ‘stretching’ if you will, the idea. Using carbon composite and aluminum to keep weight down and close attention to aerodynamics, the Flextreme GT/E is able to achieve a low 0.22 coefficient of drag while still looking ‘cool’ sporting large 21-inch wheels. Like the Volt, the Opel Flextreme GT/E will only travel a brisk 37 miles on battery power along before it’s 1/4-liter four-cylinder gas engine/generator spins up. Obviously Opel won’t be the only car production company to follow suit on these newer ER-EV drivetrain vehicles so look for more to come, and hopefully with better battery packs/range and more options. Possibly even a cheaper price?

New car lots, ebay, and even craigslist are all finding one thing more and more in common…the electric vehicle or EV these days. With a few EVs already roaming the streets and many more to hit showroom floors in the coming years, power utility companies are staying up past bedtime to ensure ugrades to their grids are continuing.

Not that there is a shortage of power, but getting the increased demand of power on the grid down to household level is their current dilemma. Burnt out street corner transformers, circuit breakers tripping, and your kitchen lights dimming is what they are trying to avoid with the onslaught of electric vehicles that will be sucking up precious electrons off the grid in many household garages.

All this not to fear the expects say, due to the high cost of an EV it will help them be able to anticipate which neighborhoods will need the upgrades first. Personally I think it’s great in that they are performing upgrades on our grids to handle more power and such but think they might be one too many steps ahead or thinking with a few extra zeros. I don’t doubt Chevrolet will sell many Volts but at the price of $40K, they’d be hard pressed to buckle down our power systems….I guess only time and power meters will tell.

As of yesterday Chevrolet had it’s first production-spec battery pack unit built and roll down the assembly line. While the Volt fan club has been anticipating and waiting for this, GM’s engineers are still fiddling with management software to make sure they are getting all the mileage and life out of the units. GM’s assembly line for the battery packs is located in Brownstown Township, MI in a massive 160,000 sq. ft. building housing 25 employees assembling the packs. While these battery packs might be costing upwards of $10,000 for the Volt’s 16kWh pack which works out to about $500-$600 per kWh, GM hopes to bring it close to $300 per kWh (about $5,000 for the 16kWh battery pack) by 2015 in accordance with the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium. More information on the first pack roll out can be found over at AutoBlog.com. Let me know what you think about any of this. Yes, even those of you who may think anyone in the rear seats will be sitting directly over the pack and have a possible chance of impotency from the packs radiation!

Welcome to Chevy Volt Forums. The place (hopefully) with all the information, pictures, and details for the 2011 Chevy Volt Zero Emissions Electric car! I know, I know, many of you are saying, “What’s the big deal? It’s just another electric car like the Toyota Prius.” Well nay-sayers, the Chevy Volt will be different and better than the Toyota Prius and such. Being able to piddle around town for up to 40 miles you could run to the grocery store, work, school, take your dog to the vet, and etc. WITHOUT using any gas! That’s right, the Chevy Volt runs on a li-ion (lithium ion) battery pack capable of driving the Volt up to 40miles before the gasoline engine seamlessly kicks in and starts using gas until you recharge the vehicle.

Among other ingenious innovations on this car, one simple fact that I like about it, and many of you will as well, is that it can recharge with nothing more than a simple 110-volt outlet in your home garage! Charging time will bring a dead battery up to full charge in a matter of about 6.5hours. Nothing is in packaging but there will be a separate 240-volt charging system that will deliver a full charge in a quick 3 hours if need be.

Although the Chevy Volt won’t be perfect, I mean what car is, it will be a giant step forward to getting away from our addiction to gas guzzling. Just last month GM invested more than $700 million into the Volt at it’s eight Michigan facilities to get it road-worthy and into the garages of us americans.

Production is set to begin sometime November 2010 but many upgrades and work needs to take place before building can start. A few Michigan car facilities need a few hundred million dollars, remember that $700M, to assure new machinery and equipment is capable of building this new line of vehicle. A new plant is set to receive a little over $200 million in Flint that will solely build the engine generators.

The good news from all of this is that it all means continued if not more jobs for America, and at such a hard time as we are going through they will definitely be needed. Some of you see all this money fly about and start seeing dollar signs in GMs eyes but nothing like this comes without a price, and a pretty decent price it is. GM is anticipating on the car costing between $35,000 and $40,000. That steepness will probably deter most but tax incentives for buyers are expected to make it more affordable.

All in all, it will be progress and that is always worth applauding, even in desperate times as these, but only time will tell if the Chevy Volt is gonna be the next thing…