Electric Cars, Chevrolet Volt | featured news

General Motors will buy Chevrolet Volts back from any owner who is afraid the electric cars will catch fire, the company's CEO says.

The Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf got top safety ratings in some of the first-ever tests of electric cars by an insurer-funded research group.

The Chevrolet Volt has won the 2011 North American Car of the Year at the Detroit auto show. The car that runs on electricity for 40 miles before a backup gas engine kicks in beat out the Nissan Leaf, another electric, and Hyundai Sonata in the annual ceremony on the first day of media previews for the Detroit auto show.

With the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf available by year's end, shoppers will for the first time be faced with choices that include whether they want a gas-powered car. Stalled for nearly a century, electric cars are about to move into the fast lane when the first of a new generation of vehicles reaches dealer showrooms next month.