EV1 finalist in Smithsonian American History display. Vote!

[Bud]

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/12/27/ev1-sunraycer-finalists-for-smithsonians-american-history-disp/
“Although the EV1 never reached the market, battery propulsion technology is now available to consumers with this year’s introduction of the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf.
Roger White is Associate Curator in the Division of Work and Industry at the National Museum of American History.”

 

[theBike45]

Who says the EV-1 didn't reach the market? Anyone of the 30 million souls in California and
Arizona could get one, but few wanted to mess with them. They were right - the EV-1
attempted to electrify the car without a decent battery. It's the battery, the battery, and
nothing but the battery when it comes to electric vehicles. Everything else is inconsequential.

 

[vfx]

Yay Bikey. The new lithium batteries make the EV1 batteries look like training wheels. Thank you for pointing out that GM killed the EV but Tesla brought it back with a vengeance!

 

[dsm363]

Well, reaching market normally means it's available for sale (and usually nationwide, not in one market). The EV1 was never for sale.

 

[qwk]

Who says the EV-1 didn't reach the market? Anyone of the 30 million souls in California and
Arizona could get one, but few wanted to mess with them. They were right - the EV-1
attempted to electrify the car without a decent battery. It's the battery, the battery, and
nothing but the battery when it comes to electric vehicles. Everything else is inconsequential.

There was a very long questionaire that a prospective leasee needed to fill out. It asked very personal questions, that were ridiculous. There was so many hoops that you had to jump through to even get considered for a lease that many people were simply turned off. I could go on and on about this.

If one believes that GM wanted the EV1 to succeed, they are either ignorant or braindead.

 

[mattjs33]

There was a very long questionaire that a prospective leasee needed to fill out. It asked very personal questions, that were ridiculous. There was so many hoops that you had to jump through to even get considered for a lease that many people were simply turned off. I could go on and on about this.

If one believes that GM wanted the EV1 to succeed, they are either ignorant or braindead.

Probably the same number of hoops one would need to jump through to lease an FCX Clarity or an F-Cell.

Obviously GM didn't want the EV1 to succeed. That's why they spent several years and 1 billion dollars developing an entirely new electric car, using bespoke components. They figured that would be easier than just pissing the money away in Las Vegas.

 

[doug]

Obviously GM didn't want the EV1 to succeed. That's why they spent several years and 1 billion dollars developing an entirely new electric car, using bespoke components. They figured that would be easier than just pissing the money away in Las Vegas.

I see your point. Probably more accurate to say that some parts of GM wanted the EV1 to succeed while others didn't. Not too uncomon for a large company (cf. the Microsoft Kin).

 

[stopcrazypp]

Probably the same number of hoops one would need to jump through to lease an FCX Clarity or an F-Cell.

Obviously GM didn't want the EV1 to succeed. That's why they spent several years and 1 billion dollars developing an entirely new electric car, using bespoke components. They figured that would be easier than just pissing the money away in Las Vegas.

Don't forget the GM / Chrysler lawsuit against CARB (which they spent millions on) and also selling the NIMH patents to Texaco which led to NIMH no longer available for use in EVs. So they were definitely actively trying to kill the EV1 (perhaps not early on when it seemed like the company was still excited by the idea, but definitely later on).

FCX Clarity and F-Cell is basically available only to celebrities or other famous people. Just the manufacturer's choice, although it has to do with low availability (only a handful of Clarities + 70 F-Cells will be leased in the US). The EV1 had 1000+ delivered (similar to early Tesla Roadster deliveries), so I don't see any reason for people to have to jump through hoops (seems amazing they got so much volume even given this).

 

[TEG]

Probably more accurate to say that some parts of GM wanted the EV1 to succeed while others didn't...

Yeah, I think it was fairly well established that GM was a little schizophrenic about the desire to actually sell a lot of EV1s.
Talk about "one hand not talking to the other". It seemed there was an internal battle and a resulting muddy marketing campaign.
We know which side ultimately prevailed.