“If the Chevrolet Volt works as advertised,” the Chicago Tribune writes, “you can travel for weeks, if not months, without a drop of gasoline.” This ground-breaking Chevrolet concept, unveiled at the prestigious MoTown auto show, is poised to represent the future of alternative power technology on automobiles. Based on General Motor’s new Delta platform technology, the Chevy Volt is a four-door urban car that boasts of running up to 525 miles per gallon.

Different Volt versions that break cover in the Detroit auto show included one equipped with an electric motor, a battery pack and a generator souped up with 1.0-liter three-cylinder petrol engine, while another Volt had its motor replaced by a fuel cell, dramatically reducing the size of the battery pack. Both Volt versions are powered by GM’s E-Flex system. It seeks to fit in practical energy sources by combining electric motors, internal combustion engines and fuel cells in a common chassis to create different cars.

The E-Flex technology is designed to be altered to suit buyers’ specifications and what fuels are available locally. GM has unveiled E-Flex cars fitted with a generator equipped with a small engine setup and powered by ethanol, and is earmarked for Brazil market where ethanol is widely available.

“This is not a science fair project. We have quite some development under way,” said GM vice president for global program management Jon Lauckner. “Engineering development has been initiated.”

The Chevy Volt concept remains just that, however, a concept and is still to make it into production line. Plans for an all-electric car are being held back by a practical battery technology. A car charged purely by plugging it in to the mains requires pushing the envelope of battery technology that GM’s experts “don’t see yet.”

But, going by Chevrolet’s record of producing concept cars with little alterations, the odds are good that the Chevy Volt will soon usher in the dawn of alternative power technology on automobiles.