General Motors is looking down the road to solve potential problems for the electric cars it plans to roll out in about two years.

GM hopes to bring the Chevrolet Volt rechargeable car to showrooms in late 2010.

It's being designed to run on an electric motor powered by lithium-ion batteries.

When fully charged, it will be able to go 40 miles on battery power.

For longer trips, a small internal combustion engine will recharge the batteries to keep the volt moving.

GM and more than 30 utilities plan to announce a partnership at a conference on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles which is under way in San Jose, California.