Chevrolet’s new plug-in hybrid is not scheduled to arrive in showrooms until 2010, but the company’s future is already resting on the shoulders of this new prototype.

General Motors is in dire straights and the Volt is their answer to Congress’ question concerning the bailouts of the big three major automotive manufacturers.

“Green”, is how the company wants to portray itself to the public and the Government if it is to see any of the bailout money they are asking for.

In hopes of accomplishing this feat, advertisements boast that the Volt will completely reinvent the automotive industry, but there is already doubt that the Volt can live up to such an ambitious claim.

With a $40,000 price tag, the Volt had better deliver on its promise of 640 mile range using both a electric battery and gasoline powered engine. The small (1.4 liter) gas engine is designed to run a generator that will power the car and charge the batteries once they are depleted.

Critics say the Volt will be a novelty item unless the manufacturers can reduce the cost dramatically and increase the cars range. The Average commuter simply can’t afford to spend $40,000 on an electric car.

Members of congress are already questioning whether the Volt can pull G.M. out of the financial troubles they are facing. The reality is that they are not going to make any money with the volt, at least not right away.

Jon Lauckner, the vice president of global program management for General Motors says of the Volt “We’re moving to a model where the primary power plant is no longer an internal combustion engine. It’s an electric motor.”

Lauckner compared the idea of an electric car to a cell phone saying “we live in a plug-in society “, “I don’t think that it’s going to be that big a deal for most people to get their heads around.”

Mitsubishi, Nissan, BMW, and Toyota are all among the carmakers that have plug-in automobiles now in the development stage. Toyota said last year they were working on a plug-in hybrid that would be available by 2010. If this claim is true, Toyota could possibly beat General Motors in the production of the first hybrid plug-in to hit the open market.

The Volt contains a lithium-ion battery that increases its cost by about $1,500 more than the Toyota Prius. General Motors expects to sell about 60,000 of the Volt models annually.