General Motors’ EV1 pioneered technology that can still be found in electric vehicles
General Motors’ little EV1 was a cross between a flying saucer and a computer mouse with the charm of an appliance. The pioneering electric vehicle promised to launch a revolution, but production ceased in 1999, with just a thousand units built.
It was the most reliable car I had ever driven. This is how Kris Trexler o in 2010, in an interview on Michigan Public radio.
“It was just a car that I took homeI would call at night and get up the next morning. It was like having youa gas pump in the garage“.
On May 12, 1998, Trexler picked up his EV1 in Los Angeles, California, and set out on a journey of 5270 km across the country. He arrived in Detroit, Michigan, on June 2, without having used a drop of gasoline.
Trexler, that trip on your website, was one of hundreds of people who had the opportunity to conduct a General Motors EV1the first mass-produced modern electric vehicle by a major automobile manufacturer.
The little two-door car looked like a cross between a flying saucer and a computer mouse, and was pioneer in technologies which can still be found in contemporary electric vehicles today.
GM built just over 1000 EV1s before ending its production in 1999, giving rise to a community of passionate super fanseager to join the electric vehicle revolution.
But the EV1 It was controversial and short-lived. It was on the road for less than a decade, and many Americans never knew the EV1 existed.
E the fight to keep him alive is over when GM decided to simply send almost all the copies it still had in stock to scrap.
“When everything happened, we stood there and said: What are you doing?” said the filmmaker and advocate of electric vehicles in 2006 Chris Painein an interview with NPR about his documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? (“Who killed the electric car?”).
“See them destroyed before most people have tried them It was really a shocking moment for us”, said the director.
As origens do EV1
The EV1’s story began in 1990, the year California passed sweeping regulations aimed at reduce the state’s air pollution. The plan required car manufacturers to build vehicles with zero emissions.
“It’s a very radical strategy, but it’s a strategy that aims for the next century,” he said at the time. Brian Bilbraymember of the California Air Resources Board. “And it will really set the standard for air quality strategiesnot just in this state or this nation, but in the world.”
Under pressure, car manufacturers have become involved in research into electric, hybrid and even hydrogen fuel cells to comply with new regulations.
In 1992, reporter Paul Eisenstein, assigned by NPR to verify the initiative’s first results, traveled to Arizona to test a GM prototype called Impact.
“When you turn the key, nothing seems to be happening — until you step on the Impact accelerator”, reported Eisenstein. “Then, with a sudden swing and a frightening groan, Impact comes to lifeand we see the speedometer showing 5, 20, 40, 60 km/h.”
This was, in fact, the prototype that, in 1996, would hit the market as EV1. There was a fast acceleration, an aerodynamic body that partially covered the rear tires and a innovative braking system that helped recharge the battery.
“A regenerative braking works through the use of motors, traction motors, in reverse, which work as generators“, he then explained Larry OswaldGM engineer.
“That’s why, when pressing the brake pedalwhat is being done is essentially generate electricity and put it back into the batterystoring it for the next acceleration”, detailed the engineer.
The EV1 battery had a autonomy of around 70 kilometers on a full charge, but battery technology improved over the 10 years it remained in production, increasing range to 160 kilometers.
However, EV1 gave rise to a new consumer concern:, which, decades later, is the same: the “autonomy anxiety“.
And the fear of being stranded, of running out of energy“, these Ron Conlina Consumer Reports researcher, to NPR in 1997. “Consumer anxiety is reflected in our studies.”
The EV1 was only available in a few states, and It was quite expensive: Suggested retail price was $35,000 (it would cost more than 65,000 euros today), but it never went on sale — was only available on rental.
“The car is being cmarketed to a luxury consumer — very educated, very wealthy, like potentially a third vehicle in the household“Conlin said.
Just around 800 drivers rented an EV1according to an Associated Press article in 2005. However, reports from GM indicate that thousands of other people put your name on a waiting list.
According to a GM spokesperson, Dave Barthmussthe company contacted these people and discovered that “less than 50 clients” from the waiting list were willing to rent a vehicle.
Many of those who had the opportunity to rent it they loved it the way the EV1, with its charging at the socket and its home appliance charmmade them feel “as if we were in the 21st century“, nota Chris Paine.
A small car with a big legacy
GM spent more than billion dollars in development of electric vehicles. But, as time passed, California eased regulations that required the construction of zero-emission vehicles.
The EV1 has become an unnecessary cost. Three-year car lease contracts expired in the early 2000s, GM canceled the program and recalled its EV1s.
Twenty-five years after the end of production of the EV1, all major car manufacturers are building electric vehicles — including GM. In October, the company stated that it will produce around 200,000 electric vehicles this year, and set the goal of eliminate gasoline vehicles by 2035.
As for EV1, thesome of the small cars escaped the crusher. In 2010, Kris Trexler, visited the same car that once started to charge him every night. It was in a new home: the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
According to the museum, it is one of the only forty EV1 still intact.
“Wow, this brings back really good memories“Trexler said. “It’s just fantastic to see this car again.”
