The EV1 was a plastic go-cart, more of an overgrown golf cart, not a real car. It wouldn't sell to the mainstream public and it came out when gas was $1/gallon.

There's no reason to load the Volt with extra batteries which cost $$$$ and weight to go over 40 miles when thats all the average person needs.

 

And you drove all of them, right? The *vast, vast majority* of the cars delivered to consumers came with lead-acid batteries--which had terrible range. Read the magazines of the day.

We don't know the cost.

And remember: EV1 = 1180 lbs of batteries.

So, if you can do a car that doesn't turn into a paperweight after 40 miles, has only 200-300 lbs of batteries, and delivers 55+ MPG when the motor kicks in, does not look like a clown car or drive like a kit car, then yes, I think this is something to jump up and down about.

 

Yeah, I knew that, I just stated my response poorly. I should have said generator motor.

Dan

 

I was under the impression that it was in production? I also visited the assembly plant, and it seemed as though they were making them to order. I was working on the EV1 after it had been out for a little while.

Dan

 

No I never drove one. Are you suggesting I'm not qualified to quote wikipedia because I didn't drive one? Did you drive one? One of the ones with the NiMH batteries? If not then what is your point in asking if I drove one?

What the majority of consumers were delivered is not what's being discussed here and doesn't change the facts. I wasn't talking about the ones delivered with lead acid batteries when I said 75-150 miles.

 

Yeah it looks like it was technically in production... they produced a little over 1100 units in the 3-4 years it was in production. Interesting. Was it lease only like Honda's new hydrogen car is?

 

Threxx's post is something I have often wondered about, too. Electric vehicle development seems to be moving at glacial speed, but then again, there wasn't a mainstream market for them until about the time the Prius poked its ugly face into public view earlier in the decade.

I think we'll all be watching a History Channel episode in about 40 years about the development of electric vehicles. By then, many sandy parts of the world will probably have been turned into glass parking lots by bombs. Some oil companies will be filing for bankruptcy, and the world will have demanded alternative energy sources and transportation. The episode will explain the cover-ups to slow and hinder production of electric vehicles, the gas price increases, and government corruption backing many of the efforts.

Just a theory, but maybe there's some truth to it?

 

Also, remember that the EV1 was only sold in warm weather states. The volt should be available nationally.

 

Travelall production was halted in the '70s. The Scout made it to the early 80s. The SUV boom didn't kick in until the 90s. I wouldn't call that "soon".

 

What about the mini-suv craze of the early 80's? The S10 pickup/Blazer had just appeared, and there was the Ford Bronco II. Jeep was already making small-ish SUV's like the Cherokee. International/Scout just kind of folded.

The 90's SUV boom really started with the later years of the first-gen Exploder in 1994-5. Even then, they didn't gain mass appeal until probably 97-98 when everybody and their mother wanted a Tahoe, Suburban, Excursion, Expedition, etc. Bigger was better, and then the rise and fall of Hummscalades...

 

Boy oh boy, the tinfoil hat brigade is out in force here today.

Fact is, the EV1 failed because it was a compromised car with crap range. If you don't believe me, read the magazines of the day. To recap:

Batteries drained after a dozen 1/4 mile runs

Batteries incapable of powering the car from town to town in the Rockies

All this from 1180 lbs of batteries (!)

On pizza-cutter, low-rolling-resistance tires for dismal handling

Looks like a clown car

2/3s of the EV1s sitting on Saturn lots at the end of the first year--they did not sell!

Total 150 Gen 2 cars with NiMH made

I have not driven one, but I received their direct marketing pieces. I'd recently purchased a couple of GM cars, so I was in their radar at the time. I did get shuttled around in one at the Saturn dealer (where they were leased).

And yes, they were only leased.

Fact is, the technology was too early, the car was too underdeveloped, and it was too far off the mainstream.

GM did not put a billion dollars into this program just to prove an electric car wasn't practical. If GM had leased 10,000 (or 100,000, or 1MM) of them, they'd still be making them.

But the market killed them. Accept it and move on.

 

The EV-1 failed and i dare say almost completely different than the idea behind the VOLT.

 

I think the curiosity is why the process takes so long. No tin-foil hat-ness here, but sometimes I wonder about GM's greater connection to the government and the politics surrounding oil. GM is capable of great things, and they're definitely getting their quality down to an art on newer products.

I think a future demand for electric vehicles has always been on the horizon--that's why I'm curious why they kind of let the process die with the EV1, at least in the public view. Maybe they've been working on stuff since then?

I won't defend the EV1--I've watched the movie, and the car was neat, but not viable for long term success. So, not to say they're recreating the EV1 with the Volt, but the seed has been in GM for a while to produce a great electric vehicle. You can either color me naive or surprised that the technology has only appeared to take small leaps.

 

Technically, it does power the wheels, just not mechanically.

 

Batteries aren't yet ready for EVs today (certainly not in the commercial sense, and maybe not even at any cost). I worked in the NiMH battery industry 12 years ago. Back then, they were barely suitable for cell phones and laptops. High-voltage/high-power semiconductors were not yet available. The induction motor in the EV1 is a far cry in terms of packaging and efficiency from the permanent-magnet motors used in modern HEVs.

A lot of what we hear about the EV1 is overly optimistic hindsight.