And now Tesla is scaring the hell out of the car industry!

“These EV1 cars represented a reality, a reality that was working and that can work again and needs to work again, and will work again. These cars are not dead, electric cars are just temporarily unavailable. The dream is still alive.” - Linda Nichols

Didn't have enough parts.....? They owned the batterycompany and then sold it to a the Oil Company Chevron which still has not produced a single battery! Wonder why? Just ask yourself that!

I love the quote: "No war has ever been bought for solar electricity"

The development, sales and success of the Tesla Model 3, after the Nissan Leaf, After the Tesla Model S, after the Chevy Volt, after the BMW i3, is a direct result of GM stopping and crushing the EV1, it is exactly the electric car people have been waiting for as predicted .

The GM lackey prattling on @6:50 is so full of corporate BS. According to virtually all reports of users that I've seen and heard who actually leased/drove the EV1 wanted to keep it. Apparently many offered to pay GM outright for the cars. Says plenty right there about GM's attitude I think.

Imagine the improvement in range, acceleration, safety and charging infrastructure in the last 20 years if GM simply allowed the EV1 to continue even at the modest sales (leases) that it did generate in the beginning. Not to mention the job creation that Detroit could use right about now.

I never thought I'd own an electric car but I do now and love it so much. Its so nice not to be addicted to oil any more.

Define bigotry: A representative of a company guilty for not recalling cars with faulty ignition switches, which caused casualties for a decade, talking about safety at a time, when failure of switches was already known.

GM leased the cars and then recall the whole lot when the leases were expired. GM spokes person is full of shit.

You can't ignore market forces... years later, GM tried again with the Volt... which also failed in selling in sufficient numbers to justify producing it. I think the Volt's problem wasn't range or performance, but simply the price tag. Personally, If GM were to produce a small sports car (in my mind... akin to the Pontiac Fiero) that didn't have a bunch of high end amenities to keep the cost down... I think it would sell well. GM priced the Volt out of the market where most people were unwilling to follow...

The chap justifying the scrapping of those electric cars, (new ones!!) said that his firm didn`t think it right to leave these in the hands of people who would not be able to buy spare parts, (as there weren`t enough manufactured!) in order to run these vehicles in a proper, safe manner. What a load of rubbish! Have you ever heard of any other firm doing that. And - what did they think would happen? The whole concept of an electric car is utter simplicity - although I imagine firms would like to make it as complicated as possible to force the buyers into taking the cars in for any correction of faulty, complex "management system" built in for unnecessary sophistication of presentation of, say, an impressive display on a futuristic dashboard - or some-such goody that appeals to certain types of people; we`ve seen that enough times on cars all through the ages - and it`s a shame really especially for those that can`t afford large amounts. When one buys a second hand car today, one has to cope with a very complex motor indeed - a left over from the previous, rich owner who has got the best out of it - but now the fear of the tiniest fault rendering the vehicle unworthy of repair, is always crouching in the corner! Coming back to our brand new scrapped electric car : I think the prospect of making something that would require practically no servicing, almost zero problems with passing M O T tests, using no fuel from the petro chemical industry (making more enemies!!) and damaging sales of the "super cars" was enough to put G.M. off! But as for the above excuse .........!!

Follow the money. The petroleum industry has ruled the roost in the USA since WWII and anything that has threatened them since that time has quietly "slipped away". Streetcars/interurbans, passenger rail, busses and any mass transit really. Other than New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and a few other big East Coast areas mass transit was virtually wiped out. Its amazing how fast the change happened, roughly 1945-1960 and it was a done deal for mass transit. Inter-city passenger rail was going down too but there were plenty of trains that were at least breaking even cost wise until 1968. What happened then? The United States post office, out of the clear blue sky, decided to pull the US mail contracts off of the passenger trains and put them on trucks. Trucks that use tires(petroleum) fuel(petroleum) lubricants(petroleum) in much larger amounts than do trains. When the contracts to haul the mail were pulled in 1968 the costs of running passenger trains skyrocketed for the railroads and by May 1971 Amtrak was formed. This of course forced people to drive even if they didn't want to. Fate accomplis.

That GM publicist guy is full of crap,if they thought it was not feasible why not just leave the cars in the hands of those who had them.

It's sad it took so long and took someone like Elon musk to make the electric car more of a reality but we still could have had this 20-30 years ago if oil companies weren't so greedy

This man is a liar! That`s why Toyota is now the biggest car company in the world, and GM went bank bankrupt !

if tesla can do it then they all can

It's any wonder the GM public relations guy reacons they didn't produce spare parts. They never intended to mass produce the EV, knowing full well that it required next to no maintenance and as such would have eaten into the production of gas guzzlers by people wanting less expensive cars to run. I think we all except by now, that electric cars are easily a viable option and their efficiency is self evident. Even a car that only does 100 km a day would do me. It's a pity it took until Elon Musk to come along before we have a dedicated electric production car available to buy. We could have had it 30 years ago from the other car manufacturers and that would've at least made a dent in how much carbon has been released into the atmosphere by now. Oil rules the world.

Why import oil when you the can use domestic fuels I.e bio fuels and electric,even if you do not believe in climate change it makes economic sense.

It is great to watch these older videos to see how far we have come! We are at he end of 2018 and here they come: all the manufactures are finally on board or at the very least seeing the light. EV's are getting stronger every day!

In 1999, Dodge introduced the Caravan EPIC, a fully electric minivan. The EPIC was powered by 28 12-volt NiMH batteries and was capable of traveling up to 80 miles (130 km) on a single charge. The EPIC was sold as a fleet-only lease vehicle. Production of the EPIC was discontinued in 2001. Only a few hundred of these vehicles were produced and sold. After the leases expired they were returned and crushed. Approximately 10 vans remain in private hands today

It's a shame that they killed the EV1. GM was afraid that cars like EV1 requires almost no maintenance and will not be profitable like other trouble making cars. Germans are good in making cars that suck your blood after the warranty expires. This is why we all love Asian makes like Honda, Subaru, and Hyundai. These are honest car makers.

The dream is still alive!

I love the devotion among all EV-owners. I pray to be an EV owner myself one day. I will join the struggle to make the EV-transportation the given choice. I Was thinking of converting to Electricity next year.

Elon Musk hold my batteries!

it will go down actually. Electric cars will generate more energy than they use, solar powered. That energy will go back into the energy grid when you plug it in. Putting less pressure on fossil fuel and coal power stations.

GM killed our past by destroying American street cars, and our now trying to destroy are future. attacking high speed rail, and the electric car. a cheap electric city car that could be mass produced, and given to cities could solve the final mile problem for trains. it would be even better if the car had a self driving system.

This is totally untrue. How come Tesla is doing so well? They can't keep up with their orders! And their range is much greater than the EV1. This technology is also in its infancy. If they invested anywhere near as much into EV technology as they do just the sales and marketing of SUVs, this technology would take off. But they don't want that. They don't like the risk, and their buddies in the oil industry wouldn't like it either.

GO GO TESLA TIME!!!!! big automakers wake up

How are you supposed to simulate interest in something which you only allow customers to LEASE and never own?.

thankyou for saying executives and not putting down the entire USA like everyone else does :D

I have a Polaris EV that I go on fishing trips with and have went 30 miles on one charge and still had 35% battery juice of course I take the back roads it's pretty close to a car but it's a UTV I take pretty good care of the batteries it has four-wheel-drive and weighs 1700 pounds and they say can go up to 50 miles on one charge.

This is why it was imperative that the government bail GM out, they partially funded and completely endorsed the SUV craze. 100,000 tax break for buying a Hummer?! Wtf? Btw I hope the azzhole PR guy got fired during the restructuring

I wish I could go back in time to show these guys a Tesla model X and S.

About 13:00 mins... The GM guy is lying!See his mouth dry up... He's telling lies and it's obvious!

"You don't spend in excess of a billion dollars to set a vehicle up for failure." (unless you have the funding of Big Oil to do exactly that, right Dave?) "For something like that to work you really had to adapt your lifestyle to the needs of the vehicle, versus a vehicle that's going to meet your needs." (Yeah Dave - your current marketing strategy dictates that everyone "needs" a 3/4-ton Silverado to go two blocks for a loaf of bread.) Never. will there be another GM product in my garage.

Gm does't make hummers now !!!!!

The real question is: Why did GM crush the cars? Supposedly they crushed them because they didn't have PARTS? That's the biggest lie I've ever heard. Seriously? People DID NOT CARE. They wanted to buy them anyway and were willing to sign waivers or whatever. They raised money and openly offered it to GM. To claim you couldn't make parts or some BS like that is the most absurd thing ever.

The big oil companies played a HUGE part in making sure that electric cars didn't last....Big oil seen that electric cars had to much potential to take away TRILLIONS of dollars from gas car productivity! IT'S ALL ABOUT MONEY.

The reality is ....GM made Arabs Rich!!

Ironic...I think GM will be remember as Xerox is. Produced a product/technology WAAAYYYY ahead of its time but the idiot executives didn't know the gold mine they were sitting on.

Well, that backfired! Now the American big 3 car companies are FAR behind Tesla!

I get that they may not want to continue the program, but why destroy them? They only leased them, let the people buy them.

Nissan Leaf: a car that can go only 100 miles in a charge and takes 3 to 4 hours to charge, would meet my needs!!

i own a chevrolet citation why GM have crushed it recalls up the wazoo

im not arguing that electric cars have no future. As we deplete out resources oil price will skyrocket. I am simply saying that only today we are at a point where batteries are cheap enough and gas expensive enough that people are starting to look at electrics and companies able to offer them at reasonable price. 15 years ago was not the case, and anyone arguing that GM couldve taken over the world with the EV1 and for some reason sabotaged it doesn't have any common sense.

100K tax credit for a Hummer, 4k for an electric car.

If I pay extra can I have the vibration and sound of a V8?

I loved how the GM PR man was swallowing hard when he was lying through his teeth about why they crushed the EV1!!

i wonder what would help a battery keep the charge. any good ideas?

KZfaq is truly a time machine

GM sucks and always will

If they had kept up with it, they would dominate the industry

Peace and love.

We the people,want affordable electric cars now!

Is it safe to assume now at $4.00 a gallon changes the equation for the future of electric cars?I dont think we have a choice!

False. Japanese and Europeans don't want to build EV's either because their auto companies are held by oil funds, and also their business model (just like ours) requires that you bring the car back repeatedly for service like oil changes and "5000 mile checks". EVs don't need this service. Only China is building serious EVs because they have no ties to to the West in regards to business models nor oil companies.

The Gov did not sabotage the law. They cant, they make them. The Zenn never was legal on Canadian roads because it does not meet safety standards(no lights, horn, windshield wipers etc). As of Dec 8, they can be legal in some places if safety equip is installed. They will not likely be allowed on major roads because they are too slow. They should also do a 2-3 year limited test like with ebikes, but I hope they can do it.

where did this video come from originally anyone know?

i have the mercedes w123 240d and i am inderest to change it and do it electric car but i don t khow how much it cost and where i can do it tell me if you know

The RAV4 EV has been very reliable for 10 years. The battery packs still perform as new 100,000 miles later. It's true power plants emit pollution, but an EV is so efficient that mile for mile driven, an EV is responsible for less pollution than if that same vehicle was powered by a gas engine. Far less.

Tesla at $1,300 usd. The EV has won

The GM oil shill says the EV1 "only goes 100 miles or so" and then "takes 4 to 8 hours to recharge it". He says this makes the car unsuitable for most people. Well, I drive at most 30 miles in one day, which would allow (8/100)x(30 miles)=2.4 hours for a recharge. Even if I drove 100 miles, I could still afford to wait 8 hours to recharge since I would do it overnight or at work. For those who drive 100+ miles a day, their gas would cost less if the rest of us drove EVs.

Well shit, times have changed nearly all companies are going electric there, happy?

Like, totally awesome. The folks in DC and Detroit now can't help but listen, because the electric-car movement is gaining too much momentum to be stopped. As for DC & Detroit, we will have electric cars either with their help, or despite their resistance. To all of the folks keeping current on electric-car development & diligently pushing it through: Way to go, babes!

The owner of the Toyota EV, I wonder if she had considered that whilst she's not using gas to fuel her car, there are parts on that car that are petroleum based. Good documentary.

No.. unfair trade is what is hurting them the most. Toyota is not paying taxes at it's plants in the south and paying poverty wages.. yes poverty in this country is set at 23K per year... Toyota Honda Nissan Hyundai are paying 24K per year... poverty wages and not paying US taxes.They also import cars with no tariffs while a Chevy Cobalt costs $45,000 in Japan. Our government is no doing its job and now they are saying it's the comopanies fault. If only our government ran half as efficent as GM

@mik99D the NiMH patent owner, Chevron, demanded minimum guaranteed orders of 100,000 batteries (~12,000 EVs) per year for 3 years.

I think more people need to be a little more aware of the range of these cars. I ran errands all day a couple of days ago, in two cities, and I didn't even drive 60 miles! 100 miles is more than enough range for most people.

There are 3 levels of EV battery charging in the standards. 8 hour - over night - 15 Amps from the wall 4 hour - 30-50 Amps from the breaker box 15 minute (to 80%) 100-400 Amps from the "gas station"

I drove to Bracknell today, 108 miles and the hotel didn’t have anywhere to charge a car, just as well I have a diesel

The EV1 was so sexy it was classic, what a shame what they did.

Sounds good, but not many countries are open to vehicle modifications apart from the US......

Thanks for this video. I love the do it yourselfers!

They need to get into the market of converting the GM's on the road now to hybrid kits and make it a specialty service this would put them back on the map! lots of parts will create jobs and help the whole country.

no war was ever fought over electricity? coal/oil is what makes electricity

Perfect city car

I'm very, very happy that GM went to bankruptcy!

It is relatively easy to make your own now especially with LiFeP04 batteries. Do some research and you will find a huge amount of companies who sell conversion kits to convert fuel powered cars.

Lovely EV-Chelsea :-)

It's conceivable that this was just not a good business proposition for gm. They can just make more money selling fuel vehicles. Why should any company have to make a product which will make them lose money. That is where the government has to step in.

GM: "No one was buying them" fast forward to today and the Bolt is in high demand but GM is keeping the production low since they are losing money on each sale. They could have had their tech evolved to the point where they would be making money on EV's instead. Before anyone says Tesla was losing money on each car sold, there is a difference. The Bolt actually costs GM more money in parts and labor than what they sell for. Tesla always made money on their cars above the parts and labor cost. However when factoring in cost of business, R&D, and loan repayments they were in the red. Now they have production up enough where they are profitable no matter how you spin it. But GM still sells at a loss.

Look GM doesn't care about anything besides money. They really don't care. So those of us who want to see EV's need to understand that. Why does Honda sell more cars than GM? Because the car lasts longer that GM cars which are designed for the spare parts industry. I think they just need to be honest. "If we make an EV oil guys won't pay us off anymore, congress doesn't know how they will tax you and no one will buy the oil.

Now that the people have effectively PAID for GM etc. they should be able to force them to make the cars that they want ... and the cars that future generations may thank them for. It's time to stop the oil based slavery in the US.

Thank goodness for Tesla to reignite the dream

"we did everything we could" Suddenly a fucking startup in california comes around and makes EVs desirable for everyone and forced every car manufacturer to restart their EV projects. Those multi billion dollar companies did *not* do everything they could, they didn't do the least bit, they didn't want to do any of it. They were more than capable of making the EV1 a success they did not want it to be a success there is no other explanation. And when someone sais "there was no demand" let me remind you, that they didn't even offer it for sale, nor did they propperly advertise it, or don fucking *anything* to generate demand and still every single EV1 driver plus the people in their circles wanted to buy them, yet they just took them away and destroyed them. This has nothing to do with "not enough demand" This was deliberate sabotage of a product that could threaten big oil and big short term profits.

No war been fought for solar but big oil has been at war against solar for decades.

This lady says, "I am no longer a gasoline junkie." She is now a coal junkie. Electric cars and compressed-air cars cost more to run, and pollute the environment more, than gasoline-powered cars.

Hummers are not selling now why is GM not crushing them because lack of demand ??

Are you saying "you" can't find an electrical outlet anywhere outside the radius of you house? I think you are mistaken.

The air quality was bad in the San Francisco Bay area today...billions of carbon burning cars on the roads will help. People wake up or better yet soon die for your selfish wasteful ways.

There are countries in Europe that already tested with success their hability to live just from energy not produced from mineral fuel sources. The destruction of the EV1 sent America and the world 30 years back. Now Europe is leading the process and there are already target dates to forbide the circulation of mineral fuel driven vehicles on the roads of several EU countries.

I was just thinking the same thing. We can go electric for short distances then rent a gas powered car for long distance trips. A electric car that gets 100 to 200 miles on a charge would be perfect for me.

If GM killed the electric car, how come we now have the GM Chevy Volt with a 50 mi range or the fully electric Nissan Leaf with the same 100 mi. range as the EV1?

7 people are oil barons

Rigging mpg and emmision figures are a common occurance in petrol and diesel cars.

Linda is 100years ahead of time!

False. The Prius uses a very tiny version of the battery that the EV1 used. The Prius battery is so small that it can't move the car for more than a couple miles. Chevron will not allow a NiMH battery greater than 10 AmpHours to be used in a car. The EV1 NiMH battery was 95 AmpHours. Chevron enforces this by its patent on these batteries, and it closed the Panasonic plant that made the 95 AmpHour ones and fined them 30 million dollars.

Yes it would be fantastic if everybody could afford to purchase an EV but not everybody can. not everybody lives in a nice suburban neighborhood like you Ms Nicholes. Not every person has access to electric plug-in stations. Not everyone has the luxury of working remotely. A lot of us have [long] commutes. An EV with a range of 80 mi. isn't gonna do many people much good. Unfortunately it's the only EV that they can afford. That $7,500 tax rebate only applies to people within a high income bracket ( i.e. $130k annually); in other words, the people who qualify for that rebate are people who could already afford one of those cars who were likely going to buy one anyway in the first place. And don't really need the rebate. The only EV's that are affordable to the everyday person are going to have far less range and even then, the consumer still wouldn't be eligible for the incentives. The base price for a Chevy Bolt it's $35,000. The base price for a Nissan Leaf is over $30,000, in fact the average price for any electric vehicle for that matter is $35,000, at least. And those are just the basic electric vehicles. The most popular electric vehicle is the Tesla. The cheapest one being around $45,000 and that is for a bare-bones model. The truth is EV's are a pipe dream and they only benefit financially well off people. Let's just be honest. Here is a list of other electric vehicles that only well-to-do people can actually afford. Polestar 2 $60,000 Rivian $73,000 Hummer EV $112,000+ Model Y $54,000 Volvo xc40 EV $53,000+

What I said was that GM didnt create a service biz because they couldnt justify it. Less parts to fail and therefore no service business needed. They can't afford to lose the revenue. I think we agree on that. But there are no payoffs from the oil industry. Business doesn't work like that. They would also have to payoff every auto company in the world. What they do is buy the patent rights to key technology like NiMH batteries which Chevron Oil currently owns. BTW I want an EV2.