Harvard-Westlake middle school in L.A. will be getting a lesson in electric vehicles on November 30th, as GM will be doing a presentation on the inner workings of the 2011 Chevy Volt (pictured above).

The presentation, which will also be broadcast on the web, will examine the basic principles behind electric cars like the Volt, and how GM expects them to be the vehicle of the future. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer period which will hopefully involve an inquisitive student asking why GM dragged its feet on electric vehicles up until now.

The Chevy Volt will also be shown to the general public as it will be making an appearance at the Los Angeles Auto Show. In its press release GM stated that they wanted to do the presentation for the middle schoolers because, “Today’s middle schoolers are tomorrow’s leaders.”

In the last two years the number of potential vehicle purchasers who are considering making their next vehicle an electric car, has doubled. It seems that supply and demand will be keeping pace too as the number of electric car options available to buyers is gaining serious momentum over the next year or two.

The few electric vehicle manufactories currently out there, like Tesla Motors, will have to make room as the EV market broadens with the likes of the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf (pictured above).

While doubling does sound impressive, it should be noted that those considering buying an electric vehicle in 2007 amounted to all of 2%, which has now risen to 5%. So 5% of the US market looking for a car is considering an EV. It’s not exactly a green revolution, but it’s a start.

Hopefully as prices continue to drop, range is extended, and companies like Better Place are able to establish an EV charging infrastructure, we might double that number again in a couple years.

A couple big announcements from GM CEO Fritz Henderson came out today.

The highlight of the press conference was the announcement that the 2011 Chevy Volt would be benefiting from a new methodology by the EPA to determine draft fuel economy for extended-range electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt. What’s the big deal about that? Well under this new methodology the Volt will have a fuel economy rating of 230 mpg! This rating makes the Chevy Volt the first car ever to score a triple digit fuel economy rating.

The EPA has been researching how cars are used in real world situations so as to come up with formulas that attempt to give consumers ratings that more accurately represent the kind of mileage they will actually get from their vehicles. We can expect new EPA stickers that have not only the composite number, but also a rating for mileage in charge sustaining mode as well as electric efficiency for the fully electric vehicle mode.

The other GM announcement wasn’t as ground breaking or Chevy Volt specific. It was the unveiling of the GM FastLane blog, which would be available to accept feedback on new GM designs directly from customers.

GM announced earlier this month that they were working on an arrangement with eBay. While details were scare then, it’s now come to light that yes, they may also be selling the Chevy Volt on eBay.

This makes for the distinct possibility that an auction may see the first few Volt’s sold at significantly higher cost. You know, because some people just have to have the best toys first.

How high will the bids go for the first Chevy Volt? It’ll be interesting to see.

After three days of hearing a federal judge has approved a plan that allows General Motors to sell its best assets to a government-run company.

The three days saw 850 objections to the restructuring plan addressed. Ultimately the judge agreed with GM’s main point that the sale was mandatory to save the company.

This ruling is a significant victory for the Obama Administration as it has been putting enormous pressure on the American auto industry to restructure in a very short amount of time.

In June, Chrysler rose from bankruptcy after only 42 days despite seeing shcallenges from three state funds that went all the way to the Supreme Court.

By Friday, General Motors will likely have be a changed company, having taken the fast track to the bankruptcy courts and coming out the other end as a smaller car manufacturer with fewer brands and a greater focus on more fuel-efficient cars like the Chevy Volt (pictured above).

President Obama will file GM for bankruptcy on Monday as the U.S. government takes control of 60% of the failing automaker while the Canadian government takes 12%.

This weekend saw the final step toward bankruptcy made when the majority of GM bondholders decided to forgo disputing the filing in court and to accept trading their debt for GM stock.

The national icon of American capitalism will undergo serious restructuring as the federal government attempts to turn what’s left of it into a successful business once again.

The New York Times is reporting that President Obama intends to explain on Monday that he believes that GM can still turn a profit. Obama is expected to explain that GM can still flourish even if it continues to only sell 10 million cars per year in the U.S.

To make this happen Obama will explain that taxpayers will need to invest another $30 billion in GM to make this possible. Cut backs ill include the loss of 21,000 unionized positions and up to 20 factories. Of the roughly 6,000 GM dealerships, approximately 2,500 will be closed.

What will this mean for the future of GM’s Chevy Volt (pictured above) remains to be seen.

Bankruptcy is all but a forgone conclusion for GM next week. Since the government would then own about 70% of GM, the question presents itself, will the government scrap the Chevy Volt?

The Wall Street Journal recently did an examination of whether the government would scrap the Volt, and found that since it’s not in a position to start turning a profit any time soon it would be a good business decision to do so.

The government has turned itself into a bit of a two-headed monster though. One head wants to take GM and get it earning a profit again, while the other head is pressuring all automakers to make green vehicles like electrics and hybrids.

Considering this, Autoblog Green postulated that the government could be in a position to increase gas taxes to drive up demand for green vehicles like the Chevy Volt. Could both heads to accomplish their goals? Let us know what you think.

Bob Lutz of General Motors shows off the new Chevy Volt on The Late Show with David Letterman on Wednesday night. Lutz told Letterman that the Volt can travel 40 miles on a single charge of its batteries, but that its gasoline engine recharges the car’s battery after that, for a range of about 400 miles.

After Letterman quizzed Lutz on the availability of the Volt, early 2011, Letterman announced that he wanted the first one to roll off the line. Lutz retorted that GM had promised that car to seven or eight other people, but that he’d put Letterman on the list.

To this, Letterman said, “When those seven or eight other people put you on their show, then they can go ahead of me on the list.”

Charles Lane of the Washington Post tore into the Chevy Volt recently, decrying it as a waste of resources and part of the reason why GM is in such dire financial straights.

Lane’s main points against the Volt focus on the cost of its production and the belief that it’s price tag won’t be balanced out by savings on gas without the cost oil skyrocketing.

He also pleads with the Obama Administration to keep itself from investing tax payer money into completing the Volt.

There has been a great deal of speculation on the Chevy Volt on both sides of the fence about how well it will sell. Hopefully we will at least see it produced if for no other reason than to see who was right.

What are your thoughts? Is the Chevy Volt GM’s life preserver or is it their pair of concrete shoes?

The good folks over at Autoblog Green have been pestering Chevrolet for a chance to take the Volt for a spin for a long time. Well, they finally got their chance when they were invited to try out a Chevy Volt prototype.

In the above test drive video, Volt Vehicle Line Executive Tony Posawatz explains that this prototype represents about what the Volt will actually drive like with about 80% accuracy.

It has the Voltec powertrain with its 16 kW battery in place and even the 1.4-liter four-cylinder range extender. The Voly prototype’s body is that of a Cruze, a future member of the Volt family.

For the most part, Sam Abuelsamid of Autoblog Green, felt that the Chevy Volt looked like it was going to deliver on what it has been promising. He conceded that a lot of work still needs to be done between now and the latter half of 2010. Read the full description of the Autoblog’s Chevy Volt test drive and check out their full gallery of pictures of the Volt prototype.