A year after the launch of Chevy Volt, GM engineers managed to squeeze the car’s electric motor to give an extra three-mile EV range for the 2013 model. That means the Volt now does 38 miles on a single charge – before the range-extender engine kicks in – and that in turn means the miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe) will increase from 94 miles to 98 miles and the total range, including extended range operation, will be 380 miles.

The extra juice is the result of making minor changes to the material composition of the battery cell chemistry, resulting in improved performance and durability. What’s more, the total storage capacity of the Volt battery has been increased from 16 kWh of energy to 16.5 kWh, and engineers have expanded the state-of-charge window to use 10.8 kWh of the total battery energy – up from 10.3 kWh used in the 2012 model.

The increase in electric range is good. But it comes hand in hand with an increase in charging time. A full recharge using a 120V could take 10.5 hours and 4.25 hours using a 240V charging unit. This – charge time – to be honest is the major obstacle in the EV’s way to conquer the world. Once they figure how to go around it, we’ll be driving Volts and Teslas and what not.

If the electric cars keep advancing at this pace, they will replace normal cars much sooner than expected.