Chevy Volt MSRP starting at $41,000

Starting today, participating Chevrolet dealers (pdf) will begin taking orders for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, the industry’s first extended-range plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

Dealers in the launch markets of New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Michigan, Texas and California are listing the Chevy Volt at $41,000 (not including federal tax credits of up to $7,500). Chevrolet will also offer a Volt leasing program, with monthly payments as low as $350 for 36 months.

“The Chevrolet Volt will be the best vehicle in its class…because it’s in a class by itself,” said Joel Ewanick, vice president of U.S. marketing for General Motors.

Although GM's Ewanick claims that “No other automaker offers an electrically driven vehicle that can be your everyday driver, to take you wherever, whenever," I have a feeling Nissan executives would take issue with that statement, even though the all-electric Nissan LEAF has a more limited range of 100 miles.

Volt has a total driving range of about 340 miles and is powered by electricity at all times. For up to the first 40 miles, the Volt drives on electricity stored in its 16-kWh lithium-ion battery. When the Volt’s battery runs low, a gas powered engine seamlessly operates to extend the driving range another 300 miles on a full tank. The short electric range for the Volt would make it ideal for short trips around town or shorter commutes (of less than 20 miles each way). The benefit of the range-extension is that the car can skip town without any range anxiety kicking in.

The Volt will come standard with a 120-volt charge cord that will provide owners with the ability to charge their Volt directly from a standard home electrical outlet, but 4,400 lucky Volt buyers in launch markets will take home a free 240-volt charging station (as well as someone to install it). The installations are part of a program developed by the U.S. Department of Energy to install approximately 15,000 240-volt home charging stations across the U.S.

Customer deliveries of the Chevrolet Volt are scheduled to begin in launch markets late this year with initial production limited.