Electric Dreams
There’s a new documentary coming out in June I’m really looking forward to. “Who Killed The Electric Car?” is a new film that looks at why GM’s EVI electric vehicle was scuttled. Here’s a description from the Web site:
It was among the fastest, most efficient production cars ever built. It ran on electricity, produced no emissions and catapulted American technology to the forefront of the automotive industry. The lucky few who drove it never wanted to give it up. So why did General Motors crush its fleet of EV1 electric vehicles in the Arizona desert?
Back when I worked in radio, arrangements were made to have my host and I test drive the car for a few days. The host lived unbelievably far away from our Korea Town studios, so he didn’t end up taking it home with him, which meant I got two spend 48 hours with the EV1 and I can honestly say I’ve never had more fun driving a car since. I’ve driven Porsches, Corvettes, even a Ferrari, and none of those cars matched the experience I had with the EV1.
The EV1 was fast. Really quite fast. It was so fast that if you hit the accelerator, the wheels would spin and your tires would screech. It was very zippy, getting you around LA traffic with ease. The dashboard was something out of “Star Trek,” running the entire width of the car. You didn’t have to use a key — you could simply punch in a code to unlock the car and start it. If you were parked at one of the many electric vehicle charging stations in Los Angeles, you could “gas” up your car for free and the neat thing was, while it was connected to the charger, you could leave the A/C on inside the car to keep it cool in the Southern California heat. This was a big deal considering the A/C used up a lot of current. This way, when you got in your car, you didn’t have to use a lot of battery power to cool the interior off.
The car got looks like you wouldn’t believe. It may not have been as flashy looking as a Ferarri, but peoples interest was piqued by the uniqueness of the car. I drove around in that thing a lot and had probably 10 people in two days ask me questions about it. They’d roll down their windows or stop me in the parking lot to ask questions. Everyone would ask, “Is it on?” It was so quiet that you actually had to install a beeping sound to signal to people you were backing up. I even had one car full of teenagers waving their arms frantically at me while driving down the 101. That was weird.
The car handled beautifully, hugging turns real tight. At the time I was driving a 1994 Ford Mustang GT and the EV1 easily outperformed my Mustang in every way, unless you wanted to drive 130 mph. The car had a governor that topped out at 85, but that’s OK. Never bothered me.
Yes, there was the drawback that you could only get about 130 miles to a charge, but if you needed to drive to San Diego or Las Vegas, simply rent a convertible for a fun drive. That being said, most people who owned an EV1 admitted they had a second gas vehicle, but mostly drove the EV1. And really, how many of you out there drive more than 130 miles a day? And if you did, no biggie – the portable charger that came with the car could be hooked up at your work and you could get yourself another 20 or 30 miles, probably. And it maybe cost $.25 cents a day to charge fully.
It was a great car. It’s a major shame GM scuttled the line. Yes, it was expensive to produce. It was years ahead of its time and really only appealed to a niche group of drivers back then. Today, this car would be radically popular.
I’m really looking forward to this film.
