The EV war kicked into high gear last week, as General Motors and Toyota showed off plug-in electric vehicles at last week's Los Angeles Auto Show, the first big show of the season.
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{"s" : "nsany.pk,pc,tm","k" : "c10,l10,p20,t10","o" : "","j" : ""} On Wednesday, the day after its CEO, Fritz Henderson, was suddenly ousted, GM for the first time unveiled a pre-production model of its much anticipated plug-in electric hybrid vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt. The pre-production model was much advanced from the concept car it debuted in 2007.
GM says the car goes 40 miles on its lithium ion batteries at full charge.
California will be the first state where the car is available, and GM plans to begin sales in late 2010. The company expects to produce about 10,000 Volts in 2011.
Rival Toyota (NYSE:TM - News) also used the show, which ends Dec. 13, for the first public U.S. unveiling of its upcoming Prius Plug-in Hybrid. Toyota says it plans to start sales by 2012.
GM has a lot riding on Volt.
"GM is moving from a company that for 100 years has been based on mechanically driven automobiles, to one that will eventually be focused on electrically driven automobiles," Robert Lutz, vice chairman of global product development at GM, told the media at the show. "This is a big deal."
The key to the Volt, and all EVs, is the battery.
"Our battery is designed to last eight years," Bob Boniface, the Volt's design director, said at the show.
If the battery's performance lags before that time, GM will replace it under warranty, he said.
GM buys lithium ion battery cells from South Korea's LG Chem for assembly in Michigan.
Unlike Toyota, which makes batteries in-house through its joint venture with Panasonic (NYSE:PC - News), GM said it has no plan to make its own battery cells.
"Battery technology is moving forward so quickly that we don't know where the industry would be in five years," Boniface said.
The Volt also has a small gasoline engine that serves as a generator to keep the battery from running down.
GM executives say this gas-generator will ease "range anxiety" among e-car buyers. Boniface says consumer fears that their e-car will lose its charge before they can find an electric charging station is one factor holding back EVs.
That fear is well-founded, Jaycie Chitwood, Toyota's future fuels and environmental safety manager, said in an interview at the show.
"You always have to think about how much mileage you have left, and when you can charge next time," she said.
All-electric, or mostly-electric cars like the Volt, appeal only to certain people, Jake Fisher, senior engineer at the auto test unit of Consumer Reports, said in an interview at the show.
"If you live in a city and park your cars on the street, how do you plug that in at night?" he said. "You need to have a garage."
Fisher says Toyota believes hybrids are the way to go because the technology is proven. But the company, he says, is hard at work developing EVs as well because it doesn't want to fall behind GM and others.
Chitwood describes the Plug-in Prius as a "Prius plus more battery." It drives up to 12 miles on a charge, and then the gas engine kicks in. It takes three to four hours to charge with a 110-volt charger, one or two with a 220-volt charger.
Toyota will soon start testing 150 of its Prius Plug-In Hybrid vehicles at U.S. colleges and car-sharing programs, looking to gather customer feedback, including learning how and when drivers charge vehicles.
Chitwood says Toyota believes that hybrids are mass-market vehicles but that the market for electric vehicles will be "definitely smaller."
Fisher, of Consumer Reports, says that hybrids in general still aren't selling well -- except for the Prius.
The Prius is selling well "not just because it's a hybrid but because it's an exceptionally good car," he said.
Other EV front-runners include Nissan (Other OTC:NSANY.PK - News), which didn't attend the LA show.
Nissan's all-electric Leaf, slated to go on sale in late 2010, is designed to drive up to 100 miles on a single charge. Unlike the Volt, it has no gas engine at all.
"Leaf is a pure electric vehicle, not a hybrid electric," Scott Becker, vice president for administration at Nissan, said in a phone interview. "It's a zero emission car."
While GM hasn't announced a price for the Volt, auto analysts expect it will cost roughly $40,000. But U.S. buyers can get a $7,500 green-car tax break, putting the price closer to $32,500. That's about $10,000 more than Toyota's top-selling Prius.
Nissan is trying a different business model with its Leaf. It will sell the vehicle but lease the batteries, so consumers won't have to own the batteries.
GM, Toyota Plug-In Electric Cars Put A Charge Into LA Auto Show - Yahoo! Finance 
GM, Toyota Plug-In Electric Cars Put A Charge Into LA Auto Show 
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