GENERAL MOTORS, criticised by environmentalists and accused of conspiring with American oil companies when it abandoned the EV1 electric car in the 1990s, plans to introduce a new generation of electric vehicles.

At lunchtime today at the preview of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, GM will unveil the Chevrolet Volt, a prototype for a new electric car that should be on sale at the end of the decade.

The Volt is a family hatchback built on the platform to be used for the next Vauxhall Astra. It is technically a hybrid, because it has a one-litre, three-cylinder petrol engine as well as an electric motor. But unlike the Toyota Prius and other hybrid production cars, the petrol engine does not drive the vehicle; it is there simply to recharge the batteries.

This, GM claims, eliminates the disadvantages of the EV1, which had a limited range because of the capacity of its batteries, which also took a long time to recharge.

The Volt, which has a top speed of 120mph and accelerates from 0-60mph in 8.5 seconds, can run for 40 miles on electric power. Thereafter the petrol engine is started automatically and runs at a constant speed to recharge the batteries.

For a 60-mile trip, fully charged after being plugged in overnight, GM estimates the fuel consumption at 180mpg — although that does not include the cost of the electricity. As most car journeys are short, GM expects “most people will use little or no petrol”.

The Volt will be cheaper to make than the EV1 — which was a hand-built, lightweight two-seater coupé. It is intended as a forerunner of a series of new electric vehicles. Its E-Flex propulsion system can be adapted to use bioethanol fuel or have a diesel engine or a hydrogen fuel cell as the generator of electricity.

Rick Wagoner, GM chairman and chief executive, said recently: “We believe that tomorrow’s automobiles must be flexible enough to accommodate many different energy sources, and a key part of that flexibility will be enabled by the development of electrically-driven cars.”

The scrapping of the EV1, the brainchild of Roger Smith, one of Wagoner’s predecessors, led to the 2006 documentary Who Killed The Electric Car? which alleged that pressure from American oil companies and other industry interests had forced GM to stop the programme.