Despite its dire financial situation, General Motors says it will do the “heavy lifting” to help achieve the 1 million plug-in hybrid sales goal set forth by the Obama administration. President Obama has set the target of 1 million plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles on U.S. roads by the year 2015.

Britta Gross, GM’s director of global energy systems and infrastructure commercialization, believes the target is possible but admits it will be difficult to hit. Several roadblocks still stand in the way of plug-in and electric vehicles, such as infrastructure needs and the industry’s overall capacity.

“The capacity of General Motors or any large automaker to deploy plug-in vehicles depends on the capacity of suppliers,” Gross told Automotive News. “Among them are battery suppliers. We need more capacity.”

GM will have 14 hybrids in production by 2012 – including the Chevrolet Volt plug-in – but volume still remains as a huge question mark. It took Toyota – the undisputed leader in hybrid technology – nearly nine years to sell 1 million hybrids in the U.S., raising doubt that the industry will be able to support 1 million plug-in and electric sales in the next six years – especially considering the first mass-produced model won’t be on the market for another year and a half.

The federal government has set aside $25 billion for EV research, but even that mountian of money might not be enough to ensure 1 million EV sales by 2015.