General Motors may have fallen behind on the technology of the hybrid, but it is going to be competitive with the new electric car generation.

Tuesday, GM made an announcement that they will become partners with the Electric Power Research Institute, which is representative of at least 30 utilities, to speed up the commercialization of electric cars that are plug-in. This was announced in San Jose, California at Plug-In Conference.

NYSE: GM has a plant in Tonawanda, which is planning to put out the Chevrolet Volt by 2010 and has announced a grant by the Department of Energy for a demo plan of the Saturn Vue Plug-in Hybrid.

This partnership will tackle challenges, such as electric grid capacity, the standardization of grids, and educating people about electric vehicles. Having utility companies associated with this will be important in getting technical standards universal.

Consumers are becoming more and more willing to purchase hybrid cars with new car warranties. The high gas prices are making motorists look to alternative vehicles.