GM confident in Volt launch; battery tests positive

DEARBORN, Michigan (Reuters) - General Motors Corp GM.N is confident it will be able to deliver the all-electric Chevrolet Volt as planned and is close to naming a supplier for the vehicle's crucial battery, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said on Monday.

"I would say there's almost no reasonable doubt in our minds anymore that this is going to work," said Lutz, who heads vehicle development for GM.

GM is designing the Volt to run on battery power alone for 40 miles, but some industry rivals and even some of the automaker's executives have questioned whether next-generation lithium-ion batteries could be readied for production of the highly anticipated vehicle in 2010.

Lutz, who was speaking to Reuters after an address to a Detroit-area business group, said GM engineers had shown the battery packs now being tested could power vehicles to the company's target mileage and beyond.

"They've routinely had it to the high 30s, low 40s and they go up hills with it and everything," said Lutz.