Chevrolet Volt’s pricing could provide sticker shock

Chevy Volt

The price of the Chevrolet Volt plug-in electric car will reflect high warranty expenses to cover the lithium-ion batteries that power the cars, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told Bloomberg News last week. We are going to bake in a very substantial warranty cost for the battery in our overall pricing calculation," Lutz said. "We need to be conservative, simply because it's the first time we've done anything like this."

GM is racing to deliver the Volt by the end of 2010, and its key challenge is finding a lithium-ion battery pack that is durable and safe enough for automotive use while delivering 40 miles of all-electric driving on a single charge.