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By Jon Hurdle

AOL Energy

GM's recent decision to suspend production of its Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid may either

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Partisans on both sides of the EV debate are adamant in their interpretation of the latest hiatus in output of the vehicle that is vilified by some as too expensive and impractical to ever be more than a plaything of well-heeled tree-huggers, while being praised by others as an early but hopeful step toward a post-gasoline transportation economy.

GM's flagship hybrid has come to symbolize what's right – or wrong – with electric vehicles in general, as other manufacturers work to bring their products to the U.S. market with varying degrees of success.

In the presidential election season, the Volt's foes also note that its sales, like that of EVs in general, are not even close to President Obama's target of 1 million EVs on the road by 2015. According to the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA), a leading EV advocate, there were just 20,546 plug-in hybrids and all-electric cars such as the Nissan Leaf sold in the first seven months of 2012, representing only 3.2 percent of total automobile sales for the year to date.

EV boosters, like GM itself, point out that the Volt's North American sales rose to a record 2,831 in August, and that plug-in car sales overall for the first eight months of 2012 exceeded the total for all of 2011, according to figures from the EDTA.

But sales are still insignificant compared with the conventional car market, and will remain so for some time, argued Brett Smith, co-director for manufacturing, engineering and technology at the nonprofit Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

"It's going to be years and years before EVs are close to competing with the internal combustion engine," Smith said. "The reality is that it's not a competitive technology right now."