Why do you think the EV1 was discontinued?

Question

Anybody seen Who Killed The Electric Car? If not, read up on it here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1

It seems like the perfect automobile, but GM discontinued it, destroyed the cars, and all evidence that the car existed. The leftover factories were used to make the Hummer H1.

Anybody got more information about this car?

Answer 1

They can say whatever they want in terms or "marketability" but I'm always going to believe it was the Oil companies that got rid of that car.

There's no way they're going to just sit back and allow EV's and other cars to start phasing out gas cars. Just look at a busy highway or major city. See all those oil customers?

Answer 2

makes great story..to bad its only 1/2 truth...Ev1 was a test...the cost of the cars would make it so over priced the couldn't sell them at a prophet... say what u want about Detroit,,,they are trying to stay in biz and make money

Answer 3

Mr. Exxon had a chat with Mr. GM, let him know they must build gas guzzling SUV's.  Look at what they've done, E - 85 is only available on high end models.  Got any 4 cylinders there ?

Answer 4

no but why did u get your information

from wikipedia you cant trust a single word on it

anyone could have made that information up

hello i still cant believe people still use that site

Answer 5

It was unable to compete in the market place.  GM only made them because the California government mandated it.  Government mandates are always an attempt to manipulate the market place.  Once the mandates ended, there was no reason to make the cars, because they could not be sold in sufficient numbers to cover the cost of production.

Answer 6

It was too expensive, and the technology wasn't there.  GM wasn't the only one to try, quit, and destroy them in the 90's.  Only Ford didn't destroy them.  

Toyota RAV-4 EV - made 1,249 from 1996-2002.

GM EV1 - made about 1,000 from 1996-2003.

Honda EV Plus - made about 300 from 1997-1999.

Ford Ranger EV - made 1,500 (200 surviving) from 1998-2002.

That movie was horribly 1 sided and was only there to bash GM and look the other way on everything else.

Nate - My guess is that they were destroyed because of the new expensive technology that they didn't want to fall into the wrong hands.  They probably all did it differently and didn't want the competition to know exactly what they were up to.  Chances are that you could take ideas from all of them put them together and come up with something better and cheaper.  1st one to figure it out hits the jackpot while the others are screwed.  All but Ford destroyed their cars.  Not just GM.

Answer 7

The market didn't buy it.

To quote Buckwheat:  "I'd a dimle a dat"

Answer 8

The EV1 was an experiment from the start, they never actually sold them, all you could do is lease them. They were never intended for large scale production, unfortunately, but this is just indicative of Detroit and why it's in the shape it's in today, as well as the rest of the country, it seems every time we do something innovative and potentially history making we can't seem to give up on it fast enough because it doesn't put enough money into the people who are making the decisions pockets fast enough or to the desired amount or both, so someone else makes it work and we get further and further behind, the decline in the manufacturing recently is just one symptom.

Answer 9

I think it was discontinued because it didn't need oil/gas to run.. Think about how much money big oil has, you think they'd allow a car to be mass produced that didn't use their oil? HA!

GM made it look like there was no market for the car. Who wouldn't want a car that gets the equivalent of 60MPG and uses no oil or gas? People would have lined up (and still would) to buy that car if they were given the chance.

It's the same thing with the CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) requirements in the U.S. We are way behind Japan and Europe. They have diesel engines over in Europe that get 75MPG - Our "hybrids" don't even get that here, and they use expensive and complicated batteries and electronics. The Diesel engine has been around for over 100 years are far more efficient and yet they're few and far between here in the U.S.

Oh and look who the president of the U.S. is... Gee I wonder if he's influenced by oil consumption?

Answer 10

Some of what said is true, it was likely too expensive to make.  The car was definitely way ahead of it's time.  However, as with all technology if it had been persued the cost would have shrunk over time.  Look at the Tesla roadster, very similar to the EV1 and even under limited production all built by hand it comes in under $100K.  Sure it's expensive but it's not entirely out of reach and history has proven that mass production can bring down the cost of anything by more than 50%.

I'm still baffled why they destroyed the EV1.  Even if it wasn't cost effective to make more, why take them away and just throw them away?  It's been a while since i've seen the movie but they were offered something like two million dollars for the remaining cars yet they refused and crushed them?  That doesn't make ANY business sense what so ever, take two million dollars in cash and be rid of the cars and recoup some of the losses for making them or pay to have them crushed and get nothing in return?  There was a reason they were crushed, and the world may never know because it's burried somewhere inside GM and likely inside the oil companies.