Why did GM crush the EV1??
True Story of the EV1
and Interesting Facts
“Range problem??”
False
The NiMH EV1 had an EPA certified range of 140 miles on a charge; none of the EV1 lessees complained about the range. So if the customer wants the car, despite what someone else says, why not sell it to them?
“Not enough electric??”
False
Far from a shortage of electric, being able to buy a plug-in car would actually help the utility grid. The EV1 charges slowly, at night, when there is too much electric; and the money you save NOT buying gasoline will more than pay for your rooftop solar PV system. This isn’t fantasy, it’s FACT; hundreds of Toyota RAV4-EV drivers put solar on their roof and now drive for free, free of pollution and free of cost since the money they saved paid it off years ago. But you can’t do this unless you can buy a plug-in car, none are offered for sale by the Auto Alliance.
“Liability??”
False
When GM crushed the EV1, it drove away its own customers, who went to Toyota. Toyota was happy to take our money and sell us the Toyota RAV4-EV, last sold in Nov., 2002. If there was no “liability” issue for Toyota, GM did not have that excuse either.
“Battery too expensive??”
False
The EV1 came in two “flavors”: one using advanced NiMH batteries, and the other using cheaper lead-acid batteries. With PSB EV-EC1260 lead batteries, this EV1 had a range over 100 miles on a charge. The cost of this off-the-shelf battery pack is no more than $4,800. The rest of the EV1 is just electronics and bent metal. As for Nickel, it’s entirely recyclable; after the Nickel battery wears out, perhaps 200,000 miles, the only expense is melting it down and “reforming” it into a new battery, using all the old metals and components.
“Cost too much to build??”
False
Lutz stated that the EV1 would cost too much to build. But in 1994, GM bought control of the NiMH batteries under guise of going into production, and, in 1996 and in 2000, famously claimed that it would have leased as many as people wanted, it was a “production vehicle”.
True Story of the EV1
There are a lot of mistakes and untruths in stories about the amazing electric EV1, the car that won the enduring love of so many former drivers in its brief 6 years of existence. The following is the true account, which you will be able to comment on for corrections or recollections, or for how your feelings were smashed when the beautiful EV1 cars were taken away and killed.
The EV1 originated from the GM Sunraycer, a solar-powered Electric car. Using a $3 million budget, a prototype all-electric battery-powered version was delivered by 1989.
Electric cars are much easier to design, having basically only one moving part. There is no clutch, gearing, oil changes, smog check, pistons, rings, valves, crankshaft, flywheel, rods, wrist pins, etc., etc.
The California Air Resources Board (“CARB”), under pressure from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), was trying to reduce car emissions “by 10%” with a deadline of 2003.
The Zero Emission Vehicle (“ZEV”) provided one easy, bureaucratic method for doing so: CARB simply “mandated” that “10%” of all cars sold by 2003 must be ZEV!
Only Toyota honorably sold a production EV on the free market, without trick or artifice, although there were only 328 to sell. The gas RAV4-EV had undergone two design changes by 2002, so any further production, beyond the 328 sold, would need a complete re-design of the RAV4-EV’s 500 EV-specific parts. Toyota abruptly cancelled the RAV4-EV sale, stopped taking deposits, and spent months finding the parts and car bodies to fullfill unexpectedly heavy orders. All orders were filled, but it took a while.
On Mar. 2, 2000, GM issued a “voluntary recall” of ALL 1997 EV1, claiming that the 1997 EV1 had design flaws, one of which could lead to fires under certain conditions. This was an underbuilt Magnecharger input port, which needed an upgrade that affected all the charging electronics. After 14 months, GM re-released the “upgraded” 1997 EV1 back to their original lessees, this time under modified two-year leases that did not include unlimited mileage. All the “non-upgraded” EV1 were destroyed, and crushed.
The failure was CARB.
The EV1 were trucked to Mesa, AZ, stripped of tires and batteries, subjected to an 18″ crush, then trucked back to smelters in California. It is estimated that GM spent about $600 to destroy each EV1 instead of selling them for $25,000 each.
Helpless, without allies, the EV1 were herded up, sequestered, then hauled in covered car transporters to the great killing ground in Mesa, AZ. After the assassination, the remains were melted down, far from the drivers who longed to save them.
Solar Electric Photo-Voltaic (PV) Power is one of the enabling technologies to solve the biggest political problem of the 21st Century: Energy Independence. The other enabling tool is the Plug-in Electric car (EV).