GM is currently working on design proposals for an all-electric version of the Chevy Volt, according to PetroZero.org. In a one-on-one interview, vice chairman Bob Lutz suggested that in lieu of dropping the batteries from the current Volt's E-Flex system, which would simplify its design and could potentially still achieve 50 mpg, the company was considering going in the other direction and removing the gas engine altogether.

"What if we could do a Volt that's cheaper, without engine and all the plumbing, and have a pure electric with more range," he asked in the interview. He later answered himself, saying that the folks at GM are pondering just that question as an answer to the California mandate that it produce a couple thousand zero-emissions vehicles.

It would certainly be an interesting footnote to the EV1, GM's famous electric car that it designed and built almost 20 years ago, and then later crushed all remaining examples as documented in the film Who Killed the Electric Car?.