Chevy Volt electric car concept to debut

DETROIT – The company that supposedly killed the electric car will unveil a sleek new electric vehicle that someday could ease America’s addiction to gasoline at the Detroit auto show.

General Motors Corp., accused in the 2006 documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?” of conspiring to cancel its 1990s EV1 model, was to unveil the Chevrolet Volt sedan concept at the North American International Auto Show on Sunday.

The Volt has a battery-powered electric motor that can run the car for up to 40 city miles on a single charge. Beyond that, a gasoline-powered, one-liter, three-cylinder engine can generate electricity to power the car and replenish the battery, with a range of up to 640 miles, GM said.

The car can be fully recharged by plugging it in to a 110-volt outlet for about six hours, and the gasoline engine can get about 50 miles per gallon when producing electricity to run the car, GM said. The turbocharged engine also can run on E85 ethanol.

AP