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GM Crushes Electric Car Hopes

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

March 10, 2005

Electric Cars • Chrysler Begins Production on Electric Car • GM Unveils Chevy Volt • 33,000 Sign Up for Battery-Powered Car • GM, Power Companies Study Plug-In Problems • Utility Preps for Electric Cars • GM Boss Promises Plug-in Hybrid • GM Plans New Plug-In Hybrid • Toyota Looks at Plug-in Hybrid • Ford May Build a Plug-In Hybrid • GM Crushes Electric Car Hopes --- • Gas-Electric Hybrids • More Automotive News...

GM had a better idea in the late 1990s. The EV1 was a rechargeable electric coupe. The EV1 could go from zero to 60 miles per hour in less than eight seconds. There were no harmful emissions.

With one moving engine part and no muffler, tailpipe, gasoline, radiator or transmission and none of the fluids needed to feed a normal car, the EV1 looked like the automotive future.

The little car would go 140 miles on a charge, but then the owner had to plug it in. Almost 800 drivers signed up for the EV1. GM refused to sell the cars but leased them to the EV1 faithful.

Now the auto giant is crushing the little car. The market was just not big enough, auto executives insist. They say they can't sell the cars because GM would incur an obligation to maintain the EV1. GM is unable to service the car, executives say, because many of the companies that participated in the EVI project no longer make parts for the electric vehicle.

The last EV1 leases ran out in August and GM has now gathered the remaining cars in a Southern California lot behind a suburban office building. GM has already sent many of the EV1s to the car crusher.

Now nearly 100 people are demanding an opportunity to buy the cars.

While GM has given several of the cars to universities and automobile museums, there are no plans to give in to the electric car enthusiasts. GM officials say they spent $1 billion on the EV1 project and the little car had every opportunity to succeed.

Toyota, today's leader in hybrid technology agrees that most Americans don't want a car that they have to plug in. The latest advertisement for the Prius emphasizes that no one has to plug it in.

GM has turned to hydrogen-powered fuel cells as the alternative energy supply to power vehicles in the future.

In the meantime, the waiting list for the Toyota is growing, and the hardy band of EV1 loyalists in Southern California still hope to save their cars. But if GM has its way, the last of the EV1 s are off to be recycled. Translation: crushed.

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