GM will work hard to meet Obama’s goal of one-million plug-in hybrids and EVs by 2015

General Motors’ director of global energy Britta Gross said that GM will do “heavy lifting” to meet President Barack Obama’s goal of having one million plug-in hybrids and electric-vehicles on the road by 2015. Gross said that the White House’s goal could be a bit of a stretch for the industry to meet within six-years, but said that GM will do all it can to play major part.

“The capacity of General Motors or any large automaker to deploy plug-in vehicles depends on the capacity of suppliers,” Gross told Reuters. “Among them are battery suppliers. We need more capacity.”

Gross said that it would take at least five or more battery manufacturers to make enough batteries to power a million plug-in hybrid vehicles.

GM will be launching its 2011 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid by the end of 2010 and has plans to have a total of 14 hybrid models in production by 2012. It also has plans to incorporate its Volt technology into two other vehicles.

The 2011 Chevrolet Volt is expected to go on sale in Nov. 2010 with prices starting around $40,000. Federal tax incentives could bring the cost to consumers closer to $32,500.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Reuters