The Holden Volt will hit Australian roads. according to a news release issued by GM Holden, kicking off a 12-week test drive run that will also serve as the carmaker's active pitch to the Electric Vehicle Trial sponsored by the Victorian government.

Australia had a first glimpse of the emission-free hybrid car when it was launched December last year but it took five more months for Holden to roll out an electric sedan that actually fits the local road configuration - the new test units are right-hand drive.

Holden chief executive Mike Devereux then touted the Volt as the vehicle that will herald another milestone in the country's struggling automotive industry.

"As one of the most technologically advanced cars on the road anywhere in the world," the new Volt, he added, represents a new chapter for GM Holden, which in the first quarter has reported considerable gains on its financial results following the losses that the company had incurred in the previous years.

The new battery-powered Volt, with a back-up petrol engine that will only kick in when the car's lithium-ion batteries requires fresh juice, will redefine the whole driving experience that Australians were used to, Holden said during the car's unveiling last year.

"Volt will make driving more economical, more environmentally-friendly and will fundamentally change the way Australia thinks about alternative transport solutions," Mr Devereux said in a statement.

The long weeks of test drive, exclusively confined on Melbourne streets, aims to provide the Volt a real-world experience, possibly pushing the limits of the 600-kilometre range that Holden said the car is capable of in a single full charge.

According to Richard Marshall, head of Holden's Energy and Environment Division, the trial runs will first see Holden employees behind the Volt's wheel.

The test drivers, Holden said, will be tasked to fire off in real time their actual feel of the road while navigating Melbourne's road through the hybrid vehicle.

The motoring public, Mr Marshall said, can watch the events unfold by following social media accounts that have been created exclusively for the trial runs.

Details of the test drives will be posted on Facebook, Twitter and blog sites that Holden drivers will regularly update for consumers to develop insights on the alternative driving lifestyles that are attached with the new Volt, the carmaker said.

The car's centrepiece offering is the complementing functions of its high capacity battery and petrol engine - the former acting as mainly the unit's power station while the latter exclusively designed to power-up the battery when needed and while on the run, Holden said.

Volt has largely eliminated the hassles of frequent petrol refill and charging that were the usual glitches that marred earlier versions of hybrid cars.

The car, Holden said, should be fully functional after eight hours of charging.

These facts and their real-world application will be accessible to everyone, Mr Marshall said, simply by following the test drives, which "we hope (will) develop a better understanding of how people drive and recharge vehicles in Australia.

"While electric cars have been a dream for decades, they are now a reality and cars like the new Holden Volt put electric driving within the reach of everyday drivers," the Holden executive was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press (AAP) as saying on Wednesday.

The new Volt will be released commercially in the last quarter of 2012, Holden said, with a starting price of $60,000.