The redesigned 2016 Volt will go about 53 miles after a full charge without burning gasoline. That's considerably better than the 38 mile electric range that today's Volt has. If you need to drive farther, the car's 4-cylinder gasoline engine will turn on, generating electricity to keep the electric motors running.

Even then, there will still be notable improvements. When the new Volt is powered by the gasoline engine it will get about 42 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving. That's up from 37 miles per gallon for the current Volt. For comparison, a non-hybrid Honda Civic gets about 33 miles per gallon combined.