Review: Who Killed the Electric Car?

EV1 was a great car: the range of the 1999 Nickel version was up to
160 miles on a charge. We hooked a fast-charger to it, bypassing
the dumb magnecharger, and it worked great. Even the 1997 EV1 with
Panasonic lead batteries went up to 110 miles on a charge. But the
real issue is, why did GM crush them ALL?? All of the 1999 version
were crushed. Why? ------------------------------------------ Vice
Chairman Lutz GM Corp. Via Email to Bob.Lutz@GM.com Dear Mr. Lutz:
When I asked you "why not use Lead or Nickel batteries for the
Volt", and later upgrade when Lithium ever becomes available, you
answered on Mar. 13 only "Boy, are you messed up on batteries!". To
date, you have not provided a substantive answer to this important
issue, the most important and crucial of the 21st Century. As the
lead article in the EVA magazine points out this month, the Volt is
receding into the future, superceded by more and more fantastical
concept cars using Fuel Cells and other ideas. I'd like to know,
with a straight answer, whether GM is just dissimulating about
plug-in cars. Not just assurances. Talk is cheap. If GM were
actually looking for customers, instead of a Public Relations
triumph, why aren't you courting the natural demographic which
would purchase a Volt, the former EV1 drivers? GM has a lot of
apologizing and explaining to do about why the EV1 had to be rushed
into the crusher in 2005, while now, in 2007, after the movie about
GM killing it, GM now claims that it was a viable experiment. The
rush to crush was so imperative, GM had two would-be customers
arrested, jailed, convicted, sentenced and fined. Instead, GM could
have just sold the EV1 to these two ladies, Alexandra Paul and
Colette Divine, or just waited for a few months before crushing the
last of these EV1. Exactly why did GM crush the EV1? GM's guilt,
and GM's dodging the issues, don't give one a feeling of confidence
about the Volt or your ho

Kent Beuchert claims to be an expert on EVs, but his statements
belie an ignorance instead. The EV1 was vastly superior to EVs of
the earlier era in almost every way. Ranges exceeding 140 miles
were common and acceleration equal to some of the fastest cars on
the road made this an exceptionsl EV. Today's EVs canbe made to
travel over 300 miles, and fast charging has been available since
1998. But the benefits to driving with electricity are much more
than acceleration. The cars use no oil. Hundreds of us still drive
the Toyota RAV4 EVs and Ford Ranger EVs that were saved from
destruction and, according to a recent survey, 48% of those drivers
use solar to power their homes and cars. In my case, my 3 kW PV
system powers my car and house. My electric bill for last year was
only $44.08, that's for my house and car for the whole year. When
you drive with electricity, none of your money goes to the oil
companies, and by extention, the Saudis and other middel eastern
despots. According to a recent report from the Energy Dept., there
is enough excess power capacity at night to power 84% of the
American fleet without adding any new capacity. That's 180 million
vehicles! By the time we've made even a few million vehicles, we'll
have added enough solar and wind to the grid to handle all of
additional load from them. By the way, the average American drives
about 1000 miles per month. A 2 kW PV system will generate that
much power and will last for 40-50 years. It will cost about
$10K-$15K. How much do you think you'll spend in gas over the next
40-50 years? And who will you be giving your money too for that
gas? EVs are silent. Consider how life will be when the noise of
the freeway is only the sound of the tires on the road. The air
pollution from tailpipes is responsible for thousands of American
deaths each year. That all goes away when we all drive EVs. The
cost of Lithium Ion batteries is dropping fast, and the cost of

As an expert on electric cars, I must object to the many mistakes
and misleading statements made here. The EV-1 was not the wonder
car the film claims - it was, in fact, no improvenment over the
Detroit Electric built in 1907 in terms of driving range (which
John Hollis foolishly claims was "great") and time to recharge (6
to 8 hours). The film has now conned another ignorant soul whose
only "knowledge" of electric cars is what is contained ina very
fictitious and silly film that looks to conspiracy theories to
explain what any 7 year old knows - the car's batteries were 1) too
heavy 2) too expensive ($25,000) and didn't last long enough -
about 5 years, making the costs per mile very high 3) took too long
to discharge. The car costs 4 times what an equivalent ICE vehicle
cost, one which could take the owners on trips, vacations, and
destinations more than 30 miles away. The EV-1 didn't meet the
needs of anyone except the most hearty treehugger (and one who
owned a second car).