In CNN article on the future of electric cars notes that in its business plan presented to Congress as part of the bailout talks, General Motors has laid out its expectations of the costs of the Chevy Volt. The articles states:
In the business plan it sent to Congress, GM said it is spending almost $750 million to develop the Volt, much of which is going into battery research. GM executives have said the Volt's extended range electric drive technology will probably not be profitable for the company in at least its first generation. That pushes any return on investment out until at least 2016, GM CEO Rick Wagoner told a Congressional panel on Friday.
The article notes why GM is spending this money:
In a recent survey of car shoppers on Kelley Blue Book's KBB.com Website, Toyota was perceived as the company that built the most fuel efficient vehicles by 70% of people, compared to 52% for Honda, the company that actually has the overall most fuel-efficient line-up of cars in the U.S. GM was perceived that why by only 20% of car shoppers. Toyota was also perceived as the most environmentally-friendly car brand by more car shoppers than any other.
I bet General Motors really wishes it had never produced the Hummer and that it had kept producing the battery powered EV-1.