EV1, the Prius of the late 1990s. I decided to celebrate Earth day with something that is the embodiment of going green… the electric car. I could have gone with Tesla or the previously mentioned Prius, but of course, those are cars as not obscure as the EV1 since they're either crashed or not legally allowed on the road anymore. The EV1, for those who did not see the video in Economics last year, stands for the creative name Electric Vehicle 1 and one of the first mass produce modern electric car. The car soon had a created major up roar by buyers because of GM repossession them and crushing them. 
The creation of the EV1 started when California CARB or California Air Resource Board in the 1990s started to impose stricter emission due to combat the horrible air pollution at the time. The air quality was so bad in California that it was worse than the other 49 states combined. Thus strongly encouraged major car companies like GM, Honda, Toyota, etc to create emission free vehicles in order to be able to sell in the state. That car companies fleets should consist of 2% of electric cars in 1998, 5% in 2001, and 10% by 2003. This is what gave birth to the EV1 in 1996 and other electric cars in the late 1990s. The EV1 meet with great feedback, surprisingly many major automotive critics, like Motor Trend, adore the EV1 calling it, “This is the world's only electric vehicle that drives like a real car.” The car would later have another slight revision, but in the eye of GM was a failure, even though sales and reaction was great. Many suspect believe that GM want EV1 to flop, but GM failed at making their electric car bad and just want CARB to remove the deadline in order. Most speculate they feared that electric cars would cut in to their multi-billion dollar investment of the internal combustion engine. So thus GM repossession many of the EV1 and had them crush causing major up roar of the fans of the car.
The EV1 was quite an impressive car for its time. The car had a mpg range of 100 and did not compromise in anything. The car had air conditioning, power windows, etc features that base model Saturn Ions did not have. The EV1 was 2 seat coupe that was front wheel drive. It was powered by 18.7 kWh lead acid battery or in the second version a nickel metal hydride battery with a three-phase AC induction motor with a IGBT power inverter with a single speed transmission that is integrated in the motor. This is what helps to give the car a smooth constant feeling. The car could be charged at home with a charger that you slide in front of the car.
Overall conspiracy or not the EV1 was a car that was very impressive and ahead of its time. It is sad that GM would take the cars just to end up crushing them. The reasoning behind it they state is the car was expensive and so were the parts. Who really knows the reasoning because soon GM and other car companies got their wish and California removed the deadlines. But now we live in a time in which electric cars are on the rise thanks to Tesla. Soon or later the combustion engine could be obscure technology.
FUN FACT: Tesla was created due to the recalls and crushing of the EV1
source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1#Reaction
Yes! One of the most influential forms of automotive technology was the production and elimination on GM's EV1. It didn't look bad for its time, but I guess looks don't matter when you're going up against major oil companies. Nowadays, I think the best all-around electric-hybrid car would be the Honda Clarity. Nice Earth Day post!
ReplyDeleteI never heard of the EV1 prior to this blog and it seems really awesome. It really sucks that they were basically hunted down for being an innovative departure from the oil based norm. Overall cool blog.
ReplyDeleteIt’s frustrating how such an inspiring enterprise was blown out of the water. Imagine how far along we could have been in the field of electric cars had projects like the Ev1 been allowed to continue!! Nice post
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