What is the Chevrolet Volt exactly? This video explains how the Volt is different from hybrid, pure electric and gas-powered cars on the road.

One day, thousands of used Chevy Volt batteries could end up sitting inside utility boxes in your neighborhood, supplying power during a blackout. The idea may seem farfetched now, but it could become reality as General Motors and its research partner and energy equipment giant, ABB, work on finding ways to recycle and reuse old electric car batteries.

“This concept is what utilities called community energy storage. Instead of having one large (storage system), you distribute the storage units closer to the consumers” to serve them more effectively, said Sandeep Bala, a power electronics research engineer at ABB.