How GM Tried to Kill The Electric Car

“They held a candle-lit vigil at the yard where the cars were crushed, it was crazy. When was the last time you heard about any company’s customers holding a vigil for a product, especially a GM product?”
-Elon Musk on the demise of the EV1

Today, we have the Tesla. BMW released an electric super-car, the i8 and a small SUV, the i3. But Chevrolet released an electric car, too: the Volt. And while you may think that was GM’s first EV (electric vehicle), think again. GM made their first EV in 1912, but in the 80s, GM began testing another EV for production. They went through redesigns, renaming, and more. In 1990 a prototype called the “Impact” was released.

PrEView

In 1994, GM began a program called “PrEView”. Volunteers had to own a garage with space for a charging station. The program allowed people to own an Impact of their own. They were forced to end it after more than 10,000 calls poured in. The same year, a modified Impact reached 183 MPH. In 1996, the EV1 was released. It was revolutionary. It took half a billion dollars to develop, and only 1,117 units were produced.

"The End"

Though you couldn’t actually BUY one, you could lease one for $250-500 a month. Customer reaction was positive, but GM thought the otherwise. They thought the electric car was never going to make it. In November of 2003, GM repossessed its entire fleet of EV1s and crushed them in a yard next to the track the EV1 was tested on. All but 41, 38 of which were disabled by GM to make sure they never drove again. And to think that these acts of beauty were destroyed and stacked on top of each other, like, garbage. As someone who loves Japanese cars and HATES GM, this really saddens me. I would of actually liked to have one of those. But hey, maybe GM will crush all Bolts and Volts. At this point, we can only wait…