#ChevroletVolt

While Chevy‘s Volt is having to battle some major negative press, Nissan‘s Leaf is celebrating its first birthday with over 19,000 owners who have given the world over 32-million gas-free miles.

To celebrate its first birthday, Nissan employed the assistance of electrical sockets to sing the Leaf its birthday song. Dubbed “Singing Sockets”, the video/commercial wishes the first and only mass-produced electric car a very happy birthday.

Nissan will also be taking to Facebook and Twitter (follow #LEAFBday) to celebrate with their owners, looking for videos, photos and memories from the Leaf’s first year of existence.

Check out Nissan’s Singing Sockets video after the break.

Following in the wake of the highly publicized Chevrolet Volt battery fire issue, GM is now working  to fix the problems, which are said to include adding reinforcements around the car’s battery pack along with protection to prevent coolant leakage as well as laminating electrical circuits.

Now that the vehicle is here, it is not without its problems. Sales of this plug-in hybrid have not been great, and these days, everyone is talking about the recent crash-related fires.

Despite GM recanting their statement that they’d buy back Chevy Volts from concerned customers, a couple dozen have come forward requesting buy backs of their plug-in hybrids.

General Motors is clearly taking the initiative in doing damage control with their Chevrolet Volt, first offering  free loaners to Volt owners during the NHTSA investigation, and now offering to buy back Volts from any concerned owner. GM reassured that the cars are safe, but will have no reservations in purchasing back the vehicles.

GM set a lofty goal of selling 10,000 Chevrolet Volts in 2011 and has finally admitted that they won’t be able to hit their target sales mark this year and probably won’t be achieved until sometime in early 2012.

Some good news for Chevrolet‘s Volt has hit the news today, with Consumer Reports saying that the electric car has the single highest rate of owner satisfaction of any car this year.

Chevrolet‘s Volt has been in the spotlight almost since the day the first concept was revealed back in 2006. Yet the most recent round of publicity probably isn’t as positive as General Motors would like.

An article in Automotive News suggests that the Cadillac ELR, which will share major driveline components with the Chevrolet Volt, will actually be rear-wheel drive.

Despite the NHTSA stating that Chevy Volt owners do not have a reason for concern, just yet, General Motors is providing loaner cars to any worried drivers during the investigation. GM will begin to contact every Volt owner in order to clarify their concerns and each owner should receive a letter within the next few days.

While Chevrolet is readying a diesel version of their Cruze compact in 2013, an interesting tidbit of information leaked out regarding another gas-saving variant of the Cruze – a plug-in hybrid model.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released an official statement in regards to the post-crash fire risk of the Chevrolet Volt. As a result of a fire that occurred at the NHTSA’s facilities, they will be opening a formal safety defect investigation in order to determine the fire risk of Volts after a major accident.

As Chevrolet continues to expand its lineup into Europe, both the Malibu and Volt received top ratings in the European New Car Assessment crash tests. Both sedans got five stars in all categories and also made the Volt the first U.S.-branded electric car that’s rated with Euro NCAP’s top assessment.

Reports from the Guangzhou Auto Show state that the Chevrolet Volt has been approved for sale in China with a starting price of 498,000 yuan, or $73, 800 USD.

The Chevrolet Volt will be able to qualify for California’s High Occupancy Vehicle lanes in 2012, after General Motors announced the availability of a Low Emissions Package for their hybird-electric car.