Ever since that cold day in January when the Chevrolet Volt concept rolled onto the stage at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show, the single biggest question has been the battery. More specifically, could GM find a lithium ion battery that would provide 40 miles of range on a charge, last the life of the car and not drive the price into the stratosphere?

Back when GM rolled out the Volt concept, there was less discussion about its design than there was about its underlying technology. Sure, it looked ok, but with gas prices at the time headed straight up, its promise of cheaper driving overshadowed its sports car roofline.

Upon introduction of the more aerodynamic production Volt, there seemed to be a re-Volt. Our Hot or Not poll showed 65% of readers responded negatively to the dramatic redesign. You gotta wonder how that makes the Volt's designers feel.

Love it or hate it -- and a lot of people hate it -- the Chevrolet Volt that General Motors unveiled today is one slick number. The General's engineers spent more than 1,000 hours in the wind tunnel, nipping and tucking the angular concept car we first saw at the Detroit auto show to make it as aerodynamically efficient as possible.

Everyone who has been waiting with bated breath for the past year and a half to see the production version of the Chevy Volt can now breathe a big sigh of relief. After some extremely unflattering press shots shots were accidentally released last week, people were extremely disappointed with what appeared to be little more than a Prius clone. Anyone who spends time photographing cars knows how hard it can be to make them look good and how easy it is to make them look really awful. Unfortunately, those shots that were unapproved and never supposed to be released anyway fell into the latter category.

General Motors hopes the Chevrolet Volt will seize the green mantle from the Toyota Prius and prove Japan doesn't have a lock on technological innovation, but it could be Mazda the General should be worrying about.

Autocar reports that Mazda's engineers are developing a range-extended electric vehicle much like the car GM is working 24/7 to put in showrooms by the end of 2010.

Mazda could be right behind them with a Volt of its own, which means Ford could be as well.