Electric and hybrid models can be a lifesaving technology until we are able to harness hydrogen, I believe.

Never.

"When are these companies going to get the point and build an affordable electric car for the average person?" - packrat

Doing so just doesn't fit their traditional business model, which has been such a (cough) remarkable success over the years.

@packrat - You can make the argument that the prius makes effective economic sense for people who drive over 20k miles a year. A few of the soft hybrids make sense as well.

I don't know WTF GM is trying to do (With the Volt and 4 ton gas guzzler hybrid super SUVs), but if I had 80k spared to drop on a toy, I would actually buy this one. But it would be less an environmental statement than an expensive and pretty technotoy.

Tough to make an electric car make economic sense for the main stream average user. Reasonable estimates are the battery in this thing (and the Volt) alone has about a $10K price tag. Let's say about the cost of 4 complete engines or so. The car still has its gas engine, still has everything a conventional car does, plus the electric powertrain, plus the battery. BTW chances are high that in 10 years that expensive battery will have degraded to being 'junk' and any real benefits will have expired with it. One would hope that a $70K car (a CTS starts at $52K) would last longer with nominal performance. Like the gratuitous solar panels or toy windmills you see at the entrance of some municipal airports, this car is about image, politics.

As is usually the case with "green" tech., if it was easy or actually made sense (or cents), they'd have done it already.

As is usually the case with "green" tech., if it was easy or actually made sense (or cents), they'd have done it already.

Well, gas engineshave had nearly a century to be perfected in vehicles. Serious EV development is barely a decade old.
I think it's WAY too early to call this race "over".

in 10 years that expensive battery will have degraded to being 'junk'

Resale value of a 'junk' battery should be considerable since the materials can be extracted and used to make new batteries. It's the lithium in them that's expensive - not the manufacture of the battery cells themselves. And the lithium is still in there.

If I could afford a $40,000 dollar car the odds are I can also afford to put gas in it. When are these companies going to get the point and build an affordable electric car for the average person?

Given the state of the technology, I'd guess in another 20-30 years.