GM said that it remained on track to roll out the vehicle in California by the end of 2010, beating Tesla Motors' Model S electric sedan and Fisker Automotive's Karma plug in hybrid to market.

The car is expected to be able to travel 40 miles on one electric charge, before switching to a conventional hybrid engine. The company claims that as a result the Volt will enjoy a 300 mile range before it needs refuelling.

GM said the car will be launched alongside a $30m pilot scheme that will involve three unnamed utilities that will provide 500 public charging stations across California.

Delivering the keynote address at the show, GM vice chairman Bob Lutz predicted that the auto industry was on the cusp of a transition from internal combustion engine technologies to electric vehicles that would prove 'as momentous as the shift from horses to horsepower'.

He said that GM was already planning to build between 8,000 and 10,000 Volts in its first year of production, rising to between 50,000 and 60,000 in the near future.

However, he warned that electric car and plug-in hybrid vehicles would remain a relatively niche market unless the price of low carbon vehicles dropped.