We spend much of our time on this website talking about battery technology. People argue suggest things such as more all electric range, less all electric range to get cost down etc etc.

I think one aspect of the Volt is being overshadowed and deserves a bit more attention. The electric drive train of the volt!!!

Hey GM do you realize that the Volt will get better gas milage than a prius even without the battery!!! So much of the time to production appears to be hamstrung by waiting on the batteries to be proven... why? we don't need them!!!

How long the volt drive train get implemented in other GM vehicle will depend on battery manufacturing capacity. Why? we don't need them!!!

Strart producing 50+ mpg volts without any li battery asap!
Conver the silverado truck to the volt design now. Batteries could even be added later by after market businesses! Pull the plug on the battery bottleneck. WE DON'T NEED THEM!!!!

Sure the battery makes it a 150 mpg equivelant car when in battery mode but guess what... 50 mpg isn't bad either. It's cheaper and we don't need to wait till 2015 to buy the volt drive train in whatever make and model of gm automobile we want to drive.

You miss the point here. The battery is part of the electric drive train of the volt!!!. If you remove the battery, It may end up another 40 or 50 MPG car. GM is going to do better then that. GM is pushing ahead of the game and try to get the volt at the end of 2010, not 2015. The 50 MPG is not going to cut it at the end of 2010. There are some car that can deal 40 MPG and some people still complain about gas every month. If you want a 50 MPG car, maybe a Prises plug-in 2010 will give what your seeking. Many want all electric and no gas. The volt is part of that goal as an all electric 40 miles. Once it past the 40 miles, crap, I got to use the gas. Would I buy a 40 miles electric car for $35,000 or 220 miles electric car for $98,000? I would go for the $35,000 car with a extended-range E85 engine. Sometime after the 2015, There may be $1 per gallon E85. Would a Plug-in Prises in 2010 would do it? Who knows. Look at the bigger picture. Yeah, I do get tire of hearing about the battery as well.

Generator power alone is not enough unless you want a NEV. The E-FLEX drive train requires power from the battery for full performance. It could work with a much smaller battery, but would be at a disadvantage to Toyota's HSG.

Generator power alone is not enough unless you want a NEV. The E-FLEX drive train requires power from the battery for full performance. It could work with a much smaller battery, but would be at a disadvantage to Toyota's HSG.
Nope, the generator power HAS to be enough. Once the battery's EV range is exhausted it will offer minimum additional power..basically it will be a power buffer, but the generator must create, by itself, enough power to sustain the car at maximum speed indefinately without additional battery drain. It's simply a matter of physics.

If I'm driving at 75mph on the interstate for a long distance trip ALL the power to sustain my speed must, by definition, come from the generator. Certainly, at times of need such as acceleration and passing, I can get an additional 'boost' from the battery. But even that energy will need to be replaced. So the generator must be capable of producing energy in excess of my need to sustain speed at steady state. The battery is not a source of infinite extra power.