EV1

When we saw the Ford announcement that the new Fusion Hybrid is "the most patented car in history," we wondered how it stacked up against a truly revolutionary car like the EV1. Turns out, whatever patents were used to get that ...

I really stepped in it last time by stating that GM never owned patent rights to Ovonic's NiMH batteries and never sold them to an oil company, and that no one sued Toyota. I believed those statements to be true at the time, but several of you straightened me out. However, since that complex issue ...

I left the dinner meeting around 9:00, with home roughly 60 miles away...no challenge for an engine-powered vehicle, even relatively low on fuel. You can always find an open station. Not so on this 1997 night. I was driving an EV1 development vehicle freshly equipped with an experimental ...

Editor's Note: If you missed Gary's previous articles on the history of GM's EV1, please start here. This post is the third of three posts where he answers reader questions that the EV1 series raised. Part I is here and Part II is here. Once again, questions may have been edited for space. Honest ...

Editor's Note: If you missed Gary's previous articles on the history of GM's EV1, please start here. This post is the second of three posts where he answers reader questions that the EV1 series raised. Part I is here and Part III will run tomorrow. Gary's promised to move on to current and relevant ...

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/autos/Old_GM_Electric_Car_sells_for_465k'; Not quite sure what to make of this, but it appears that someone in Victoria, British Columbia has just sold a 1998 EV1 for $465,000 (about $431,835 U.S.). We got a tip from Patrick J. who said that he spotted the ad but was ...

People are most critical of the things they least understand. – Paul W. Spoor, Bits & Pieces, September 2008.Why is it so important to some to cast GM as a villain? To believe that the only reason we don't have affordable, practical pure-electric vehicles today is that GM doesn't want us ...

NOTE: If you missed them, please start by reading parts one, two and three in Gary's EV1 series.What was learned, and is being applied today"As has been stated in comments [to the] previous two posts by Mr. Witzenburg, there are several things which just don't add up, and make him look like a ...

NOTE: If you missed them, you can read parts one and two.High tech development, market launch and retreatBecause its 1,175-pound pack of 27 advanced lead-acid (PbA) batteries - 26 propulsion, one for accessories - held a mere half-gallon of gasoline-equivalent energy, the production EV1 would have ...

Note: read part one of this story here.Pause and rebirthI joined the GM EV effort in April, 1991 and began pulling together a small team of test and development engineers and technicians at GM's Proving Grounds near Milford, MI.One vivid early memory was driving the Impact concept car down a long, ...