Chevy Volt, Baking in Arizona

Even if you are to be the future star of your manufacturer's lineup, it doesn't mean you don't have to go to hell and back to prove your worth, as GM's model found out the hard way. The American carmaker is now testing the soon-to-be-released Volt under the hot, dry, Arizona sun, to see how it copes with extreme temperatures, both inside and outside the cabin.

GM's Desert Proving Grounds in the aforementioned state is currently the place to be for the carmaker's engineers, who, as GM says, bake the car under the sun for a few hours before putting it through its paces.

After everybody is convinced the Volt is crispy enough, every switch in the Volt is turned on, every button pushed, all electric accessories engaged and the car rolls off the melting tarmac.

GM is currently trying to see two things from the Volt: how it's systems cope with the heat and how the air conditioning systems help the humans inside do the same.

“The car performed well,” senior durability test engineer Steve Pratt said in a statement. “The air conditioner cooled things off from our interior temperature of 138 degrees down to a nice comfortable temperature for driving.”

And that's not all. The torment for the plug-in hybrid does not end here. Even if the car will not be equipped for towing purposes, GM's engineers still attached a load to the car, "to put stress and strain on the Volt’s engine and chassis to determine how well it will perform while climbing a mountain at temperatures above 100 degrees F."

As you know, the Volt is scheduled to begin mass production in the fourth quarter of the year. The likely price for the plug-in is under $30,000.