Chevy Volt Toyota Prius

Take a look at this sleek and sexy piece of concept car unveiled a couple of years prior. This was the concept for the Chevy Volt, which promised to usher in a whole new era in electric car goodness.

Sexy aesthetics aside, the Volt promised to revolutionize the (mass produced) electric car by introducing a whole new set of rules for creating and using energy. You actually plug this one in for starters. The lithium ion battery delivers approximately 40 miles running only on that, which Chevy claims covers about 75% of commuters trips to and from work. After the battery is depleted, there is a small gas engine which does not drive the vehicle, but powers the electric engine.
Said engine will deliver somewhere in the vicinity of 300 miles on a tank of gas, and will average about 2 cents per gallon (Using $3.60 gas as a benchmark). Compared to the regular average for vehicles which is 12 cents, that seems pretty snazzy. Another interesting talking point is that it only sucks about as much energy from the grid as a refrigerator in a years time.
One thing that remains foggy is the price. Speculation puts it somewhere between 30 and 40 thousand bucks.
Now, the main reason I wanted to write about the Volt. I give you, the final production model unveiled this week:


Wait, what? I think if you told me this was the next refresh of the Toyota Prius, I'd buy it. I've nothing against the Prius, mind you, but this looks nary a shadow of its conceptual glory. What happened here? I know, I know. Concept cars always outshine their final production models, but this thing looks like a 3rd cousin of the concept car. Definitely not a direct offspring.


Eh. At any rate, look for them in 2010.

P.S. Heres a B.D.O.T.D. (Thats Blu-ray deal of the day) for those interested. Tower.com shows Iron Man as shipping within 12 hours when you order it. The movie is not set to be released on Blu-ray until September 30th. Tower has also been known to ship movies ahead of the scheduled release dates. I placed my order this morning. I'll let you know if it ships.