General Motors wants to ship more Volt EV cars to dealerships, but the dealers are saying no, and with good reason. Sales of the hybrid electric sedan are lower than originally anticipated. Higher pricing (Volt is, on average, $5000 more than foreign hybrids) and stories of EV batteries causing vehicle fires turn customers away from this green Chevy.

In the New York City market, GM allocated 104 Volts to 14 dealerships last month. Dealers took 31 of them, while snatching over 90% of the other vehicles they were eligible for.

Brett Hedrick, an employee at Hedrick’s Chevrolet, said he sold only 10 Volts last year. GM’s “thinking we need six more Volts is just crazy,” Hedrick adds. “We’ve never sold more than two in a month.”

GM recently announced a “voluntary repair” to protect the battery pack. NHTSA officials stated in its now closed investigation of the battery pack, saying it “poses no significant fire risk.”

Although, at the Detroit Auto Show, GM said they wouldn’t follow with their production target set for 60,000 units in 2012. GM sold 7,671 Volt EVs in 2011, short of the 10,000 goal.

Source: Auto Week

Volt’s website gives you a very clean looking, easy to read rundown of pretty much every bit-o-tech Volt has to offer. From diagrams of the recharge device (like posting your secret sauce recipe online, careful GM!) to how you can go mobile anywhere in Volt are all there to read. Chevy even threw in some graphs to help you understand just how much you’ll save on a yearly commute when driving a rechargeable Volt – and don’t forget about those tax cuts when you purchase an eco-friendly automobile.

Go have a look yourself at the EV Volt for 2011, view the interior and exterior galleries and gawk at the sexy charts that help an average Joe understand how frugal a Volt can be.

First, we were told the Volt will indeed recharge while in motion, something many electric cars are expected to accomplish. Last week, we were told the Volt will not recharge itself – making it your ordinary plug-in vehicle. Let’s have GM straighten all the confusion out.

GM’s VP for Global Program Management John Lauckner (what a title!) has explained that the Chevy Volt can indeed recharge it’s own batteries/engine, and can do so best while in a stead state of motion. In other words, blasting through intersections and jamming on the brakes, much like with gasoline fueled vehicles, will probably kill your gas electric mileage. During this steady motion, energy not being used to power the engine will be distributed back to the lithium-ion battery packs. Extra juice will also come from the rechargeable brake generators.

So, is everyone clear on exactly what the Chevrolet Volt will be able to do? There will be a quiz during our next class.