Due to high demand, GM has decided to hasten the launch of the Chevy Volt. It will be available for order in all 50 states by the second quarter of this year.

GM originally planned a slower roll-out, but due to the high interest at dealerships in launch markets, it decided this week to bump the schedule up by six months. Beginning in the second quarter of this year, customers in all 50 states will be able to place orders at participating Chevy dealerships. Shipments will begin in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii in the third quarter, spreading to all 50 states in the fourth quarter.

So if you’re waiting patiently for your Chevy Volt, it will only be a few months… [via Chevy]

We knew it would be a far fall from 230 mpg, but we now know just how far. Nearly 75%. The EPA’s rating for the Chevy Volt is finally out, and it indicates the car will get a “combined composite” rating of 60 mpg, putting it well above the Toyota Prius (51/48 mpg).

The 60 mpg is an average of the car’s all-electric rating of 93 mpge and the gasoline rating of 37 mpg. The EPA lists the car’s range at 35 miles for all-electric with an extra 344 miles of gasoline range.

Last week, the EPA released the Nissan Leaf’s numbers. While the Leaf handily beats the Volt’s efficiency with a 99 mpge rating, its 73-mile range is quite limited when compared with the near-400-mile range of the Volt. [via InsideLine]

The Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf are set to go head to head in the market beginning next month and, so far, the Chevy Volt is coming with heavier artillery. In addition to winning Motor Trend and Automobile magazines’ 2011 Car of the Year this week, the Volt has now snagged honors as the Green Car Journal’s 2011 Green Car of the Year, beating out the Leaf along with the Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Sonata Hybrid and the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid.

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Car companies with plug-ins on the horizon, like Chevy and Nissan, are all to happy to point out how base pricing will be offset by the up to $7,500 worth of federal tax incentives available to plug-in buyers. Consumers in Lansing, Michigan, which will be among the first launch markets for the Volt, will enjoy a much deeper government incentive: up to $15,000.

The Lansing Board of Water and Light announced this week that it will match federal monies for plug-in buyers. So if you get the full $7,500, you’ll get $15,000 altogether. And LBWL’s portion is available as an on-the-spot payment rather than a tax credit. Not only that, but the agency will pay installation fees for charging equipment.

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Not letting GM hog the electric vehicle spotlight today, Nissan announced that it will offer the same warranty on its Leaf battery pack as GM recently outlined for the Chevy Volt: 8 years, 100,000 miles. The Leaf makes use of a 24 kWh lithium-ion battery that provides 100 miles worth of pure-electric range. The Volt also uses lithium ion batteries, providing a range of up to 40 miles. Unlike the Leaf, the Volt has a range-extending gasoline engine that offers another 300 miles. The Leaf is 100 percent electric.

While the battery warranties will be identical, the cars will be priced about $7,000 apart. Chevy announced today that the Volt will be $41,000 ($32,500 after tax breaks). The Nissan Leaf will start at $32,780 ($25,280 after tax break). [via Detroit News]

The 2011 Chevy Volt will be hitting the market late this year, and GM has released the pricing on its first electric. The Volt will carry a base sticker of $41,000, putting it on the high end of the segment, about $8,000 more than the Nissan Leaf. After the $7,500 federal tax credit, you’re still looking at $32,500. Those that are looking to go the leasing route will have the option of a $350/month for 36 months ($2500 down), according to GM’s numbers.

The Volt roll-out will start in California in November and then move to dealers in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Michigan and Texas. Nationwide sales will begin within a year to year and a half. [via Associated Press]

I envision buying a Chevy Volt or other electric car to offer an immediate pay-off and then a moment of reckoning. You feel great about your new, green purchase and then suddenly the realization that you’ll have to charge it creeps into your mind. No more gas stations, no more running late to work on E, this will take a little planning.

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Due to the high cost of the upcoming Chevy Volt’s powertrain, GM is currently testing some different configurations, including a rotary and diesel engines. The rotary is being looked at for its size and profile advantages. GM is also working hard to cut the costs of the Volt’s battery pack, which currently runs about $10,000.

GM’s vice president of global vehicle engineering Karl Strackeas was quoted on Inside Line explaining of the pros/cons of using a rotary: “We have a strategy to go rotary engines or a two-cylinder [gas] engine making 15-18 kW. I have driven the car already. Rotary has a higher fuel consumption but here’s the advantage [holds up his hands to form round, frisbee-sized shape] — packaging.” [via InsideLine]

So far, the GM/Google partnership we caught a whiff of hasn’t brought anything as exciting as a GM-based MyFord system, but it’s extracted a little extra function from the previously seen Chevy Volt Android app. The full details will be revealed tomorrow at Google’s I/O conference in San Francisco, but GM detailed a new Navigation tab today. The new function will be available on the home screen of the app and will allow the user to quickly locate his Volt and see his own location in relationship to it on Google Maps. If that’s not quite specific enough, users can even get voice directions to the car. That should come in handy when you’re wandering around a huge event parking lot trying desperately to find your car.

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