Chevrolet Volt
It's from 2010, when you were 4.
- Iconic generation
- Volt (2010, first generation)
- Origin
- USA (General Motors)
- Powertrain
- Plug-in hybrid (16 kWh battery + 1.4L gas range-extender)
- Power
- 149 hp electric motor
- Electric range
- ~40 mi before gas kicks in
- Total range
- ~340 mi (battery + gas)
- Price when new
- $41,000 (2011, before incentives)
- Honors
- 2011 Motor Trend Car of the Year
About
As of 2026, it's 16 years old.
The Chevy Volt was General Motors quietly answering the question nobody else had cracked: what if you never had to choose between electric and gas at all? Launched in 2010, it drove on electricity for about 40 miles, then fired up a small gas engine as a generator to keep going, no range anxiety, no compromise.
GM called it an 'extended-range electric vehicle,' which sounds like a marketing committee fighting itself, but the idea was genuinely brilliant. For most commutes you used zero gas; for the occasional road trip, you just kept driving. It was a plug-in pioneer that sidestepped the single biggest fear about going electric.
It was also a comeback story. This was GM, fresh out of bankruptcy, betting on a technically ambitious car to prove it could still innovate, and the Volt won 2011 Motor Trend Car of the Year for its trouble.
It never sold in huge numbers and was eventually discontinued, but the Volt was ahead of its time, a clever bridge between the gas era and the electric one. Plenty of today's plug-in hybrids are essentially walking in its footsteps.
Chevrolet Volt through the years
Concept revealed
GM shows the Volt concept and bets its comeback on extended-range electric tech.
Volt launches
The plug-in pioneer reaches first customers in select states in December.
Car of the Year
Motor Trend names the Volt its Car of the Year.
Second generation
A redesign boosts electric range to about 53 miles.
Production ends
GM retires the Volt as it pivots toward full EVs.
