GM Ev1 1996

[Revo]

Very Short History

The EV1 was the first modern production electric vehicle from a major automaker and also the first purpose-built electric car produced by General Motors (GM) in the United States.

Introduced in 1996, The EV1 electric cars were available in California and Arizona in a limited (3 year/30,000 mile or 48000 km) "lease only" agreement. This was because the EV1 and its leasee were to be participants in a "real-world" engineering evaluation created by GM's Advanced Technology Vehicles group, as well as market analysis and study into the feasibility of producing and marketing a commuter electric vehicle in select U.S. markets.

In 1999, the EV1 was discontinued after 1,117 were units built, with all examples subsequently removed from the roads in 2003 by General Motors and crushed, except for a select few kept for educational purposes or as museum pieces.

Source: wikipedia.org

[LeonOfTheDead]

That rear end and lights seem from an oldish Honda Accord (EU ones).

The idea of crushing the cars is so...weird.

[ScionDriver]

The documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" was about this car and other EVs and it was a decent movie, a bit biased toward the electric car side but not too bad considering. I think these were interesting pieces and no worse an idea than a Tesla or the like. Fully electric cars, as has been beaten to death, if they had better batteries they could be more practical.
All told though, the EV1 was faster to 60 than a Z3.

[Dino Scuderia]

Kers ftw

[DesmoRob]

Pretty interesting stuff. Thanks for posting that.

[NSXType-R]

I've heard about these. I mean, maybe it's GM, so it's fated to be handled wrong. But look at the way Honda handled the Inspire, as opposed to the Ev1.

It's the same sort of car- an experimental prototype that they lease out. I mean GM had the perfect car to market, but they decide not to, kill it, and even worse, decide to not follow up on it. Look at where they are now. It's another too little too late sort of thing. It's not that their engineers are garbage, it show that bean counters really run the show at GM. And afterwards, they decide to make it so that it looked like it never happened- destroying every Ev1 except for a select few. Pathetic.

I mean, I'm sure Honda would take back every car once the lease period is over. It's too expensive to keep parts, and stuff for it afterwards. But at least they used it as a chance to say "we're the first to do this", "we're moving in the right direction" sort of thing, none of which were done with the Ev1.

Edit- What I really meant was the FCX Clarity. The name slipped my mind there.

[cargirl1990]

I've heard about these. I mean, maybe it's GM, so it's fated to be handled wrong. But look at the way Honda handled the Inspire, as opposed to the Ev1.

It's the same sort of car- an experimental prototype that they lease out. I mean GM had the perfect car to market, but they decide not to, kill it, and even worse, decide to not follow up on it. Look at where they are now. It's another too little too late sort of thing. It's not that their engineers are garbage, it show that bean counters really run the show at GM. And afterwards, they decide to make it so that it looked like it never happened- destroying every Ev1 except for a select few. Pathetic.

I mean, I'm sure Honda would take back every car once the lease period is over. It's too expensive to keep parts, and stuff for it afterwards. But at least they used it as a chance to say "we're the first to do this", "we're moving in the right direction" sort of thing, none of which were done with the Ev1.

thats a good point, but Inspire? LOL! Insight.

[NSXType-R]

thats a good point, but Inspire? LOL! Insight.

Nope, I didn't mean that either.

I meant the FCX Clarity.

The Inspire is an actual car, it's the Honda Accord in Japan. I'm all JDM yo.

[cargirl1990]

Nope, I didn't mean that either.

I meant the FCX Clarity.

The Inspire is an actual car, it's the Honda Accord in Japan. I'm all JDM yo.

Honda Inspire? looks better than its counterpart over here thats for sure.

[Lets Gekiga In]

Thank you so much!

[LeonOfTheDead]

So GM did actually sold a car