Pages with tag Electric Car History
- An EV1 survivor at Ohio State Univ, modified and used for research: This EV1 is at Ohio State University, and the University agreed to keep it off public roads and to use the car solely for research. At the time of filming, this model was non-functional and had been modified.
- An EV1 was resurrected against all odds: When GM crushed the EV1's, a few were kept from being crushed. Some of them were put in museums or universities. In every case GM made the recipient sign an agreement and to rip out boards and cut wires and so on. This video shows one person describing how they resurrected a GM EV1.
- Driving the EV1 in final week of ownership, by Darrell Dickey: This video goes over the GM EV1 as a brand new car design. Understandably Darrell wanted to record the EV1 for posterity, to keep alive the memory that electric cars had existed. I think he was purposely squeeling the tires to show off.
- Early EV activists staged this funeral for the EV1 before GM crushed the cars: As shown in Who Killed the Electric Car, GM and the other automakers ended their electric car programs when CARB watered down the ZEV requirements. To raise attention, EV activists held a mock funeral for the EV1 as soon as GM announced they'd call back the cars from the lease-holders. Parts of the funeral were shown in Who Killed the Electric Car.
- Energy Storage in Hydrogen: Does this beat batteries?: The Hydrogen Economy is attractive in certain ways.
- GM EV1 Overview -- The car of the future today: This video goes over the GM EV1 as a brand new car design.
- GM had crazy advertising for the EV1, enough to make us wonder if GM was undermining the EV1: You would think after spending $1 Billion in research and development costs on the EV1, that GM would want to actually sell a lot of the cars. But, these advertisements did little to convey anything positive about the EV1. Would these advertisements raise interest? Or would they make folks shy away from electric cars?
- Home video of the 1999 GM EV1: This home video shows off the 1999 version of the GM EV1. As he says below, at first it gave 120 miles range but that fell to 70 miles after 2 years.
- Internal GM EV1 training video before the EV1 launch: As we all know, it is the customer that will ultimately determine the fate of a product. In this video GM executive Bob Purcell seems to be stressing the importance and criticality of the GM EV1. The video includes a very interesting overview of over 100 years of electric vehicle history. This history makes a strong case for GM as a leader in electric vehicle development. Ahem.
- The first day GM EV1 was available for leasing -- December 5, 1996: This video was made the first day the GM EV1 was available for leasing. It features interviews with some of those leasing the car, as well as news reports. The news reports gave faint praise to the car, citing all kinds of problems while saying nothing of the benefits.
- Tom Hanks says the EV1 drives fast enough to get a speeding ticket: Appearing on Dave Letterman's show, Tom Hanks describes the experience of driving his EV1. Parts of this video of course appeared in Who Killed the Electric Car.