The Chevrolet Volt, an “extended range electric vehicle,” can be plugged in and recharged at night like a cell phone. Fully recharged, the Volt is designed to take the average American to and from work or errands without ever using a single drop of gasoline.

“What it means is you have the ability to drive pure electric for 40 miles,” said Frank Webber of Chevrolet. “But after 40 miles, even after the battery is depleted, you have a small engine generator set generating electricity and providing you with several hundred miles of driving. It's a flex-fuel engine, so it can run off ethanol or gasoline.”

However, if the air conditioning is running in a Volt, its ratio of 40 miles in one charge could drop.

Unlike its plug-in hybrid competitors, the Volt’s engine is never directly fed by gasoline. Instead, the gas feeds a generator, which in turn feeds the engine electricity.

In terms of performance, the Volt goes zero to 60 in less than nine seconds and tops out at 100 mph.

“You can experience a launch feeling in the volt like a V6, 150-horsepower engine, but the big difference is everything happens without noise,” said Webber.

And there are also no harmful emissions.

Some may be concerned about a spike in their electric bill, but developers say the cost of charging up the car each night would be much less that what it cost to run an air conditioner or home heating. Developers estimate it will cost about 80 cents a day to operate the car, somewhere between the cost of running a water heater and a clothes dryer.

“Adding a Volt to your household, if you get off-peak rates from your utility company, is probably only adding a little more than 10 percent to your electricity bill,” said Webber.

Possibly the best thing about the Volt is that will go on sale in 2010, about a year after competing plug-in hybrids hit the market. Its price has not yet been set.