David Pogue’s report at the New York Times and his TV piece (with transcript) for CBS News has shone some light onto what’s happening with the GM Volt, the electric car from the company that killed the electric car. 

The two articles also cover the Tesla Motors car, said to be coming soon and offering 200 miles on a single charge, going from 0 to 60 mph in 4 seconds, with Tesla chief, Martin Eberhard, very bullish about Tesla’s prospects. 

Sadly, some reports online have suggested the designers are having problems getting the batteries to work at the reported capacity, although Tesla themselves say that despite delays the car is coming – with a 5-seater US $50,000 model – half the cost of the current ‘$100,000 electric sports roadster’ – in the future. 

There’s also the alternatives of ethanol and hydrogen, with ethanol causing grain prices to go through the roof and making food for humans more expensive and not showing signs of being more than a short term fad, on top of that, ethanol reportedly costs more in fossil-fuel delivered energy to produce than it returns, making it ultimately unviable – with hydrogen suffering the same fate. 

Add to that the fact there is no country-wide hydrogen delivery infrastructure, something that would cost many billions of dollars to build, and hydrogen too becomes just another puff of hot air. 

Pogue also covered the Toyota Prius, a hybrid car that uses an electric motor to supplement the primary gas engine, meaning gas is still needed to power the car. 

GM’s Volt is primarily an electric car with a small 4 cylinder motor, able to run on gas, and theoretically also ethanol or hydrogen, with the motor kicking in only to give power to the batteries when their internal charge runs low. With the GM Volt, drivers get 40 miles to the charge, meaning many could make a number of short trips without even needing the gas engine to turn on. 

GM’s CEO, Bob Lutz, told Pogue that the Volt was the most exciting thing he’s worked on in his 42 years in the automotive industry, even more exciting than GM’s first electric car, the EV1, was back in the late 90s, and says the Volt will be ‘transformational’ to the industry. 

But the GM Volt is still just a prototype – new lithium-ion battery technology is awaiting delivery for intensive testing to ensure they work as advertised – batteries that are safe and can last for, say, 10 years before needing replacement. 

Apparently the prototype batteries are to be delivered in the next few weeks, giving hope to GM’s Volt team that the 2010 deadline for delivery into car showrooms is definitely do-able – well over two years after Tesla Motors cars should be on the road (providing they fix their battery issues, too), and continuing the unleashing of a revolution in electric cars that still easily co-exist with today’s electricity grids and existing gasoline infrastructure. 

Toyota’s Prius has the most to lose should such a technology emerge and Toyota has no similarly equipped model. But if GM can work with battery manufacturers to create batteries suitable to the task, Toyota can work with them too – or their competitors – to create an all-electric car of their own as well. 

Who can doubt that Toyota’s engineers have already been working busily away at next-generation electric technologies of their own? Flush with the success of their Prius and Lexus hybrids, there’s no way they’re going to voluntarily cede their leadership position to upstarts like Tesla Motors or an electrically re-invigorated Detroit. Having these kinds of technology ‘fights’ is only immensely beneficial to the competitive spirit of the entire industry worldwide. 

No doubt the work at Tesla Motors has spooked the traditional car makers, while also giving Chinese car manufacturers hope of also making electric cars in vast numbers for domestic and international consumption. 

Rapid deployment and adoption of such technology would easily have a major impact on global carbon emissions from car exhaust, but realistically any major transition would still likely take decades unless electric car technology absolutely plummeted in price and rapidly became ultra commoditised, or some form of free-energy machine were to be invented and not suppressed. 

All of this week’s ‘buzz’ about the electric car is certainly most heartening to see. But more heartening still will be the Tesla Roadster in mass production on roads, the GM Volt out of the labs and on the freeways, the electric successor to the Prius enjoying even more popularity than the current model and cheap electric cars flowing out of China for the world of snap up and buy, making big savings for emissions and our wallets. 

Dudes, it’s time for the electric car – where is it?