How General Motors Killed the First Modern Electric Car

I was selected to be a test driver for the EV-1. I had it for 3 weeks, I believe. I had to keep a record of every time I drove it. The local electric company came to my house to install a charging station (which did not run through my electric meter so I did not have pay to charge it). I found it to be surprisingly quick, but I thought it had an awful ride. The tires were way too skinny. But it was one of the more interesting things I’ve done in my life. At the end of the program, GM held a huge dinner for all of us who participated. I got a little crystal thing with a pic of the car inside it, which I still have on my office shelf to this day.

It's amazing how GM can have a massive headstart on something and be shortsighted enough to kill it and allow others to massively surpass them.

Imagine how far the industry could've advanced if corrupt lobbyists didn't ruin everything.

If you're ever in LA take a visit to the Petersen Collection, they have an EV-1 on display; probably the coolest exhibit in the entire museum even if it does make you feel a little sad that it was killed off

Scheduled to be shipped beginning on December of 1975, the first Brazilian electric vehicle called Itaipu E150, from the former manufacturer Gurgel, suffered from short range and complexity to manufacture. That's a piece of history that Brazil didn't write because of politicians being against that innovation too.

I worked for an IBEW contractor at McClellan AFB in 2001 in an old warehouse remodel. Inside were a dozen of these cars in clean driveable condition. I was told why they were there, their story. Upon realizing what GM had pulled, my stomach literally hurt for a moment. A very strange sensation, almost sickening. I totally agree with Dave Martins comment. Not something that you forget.

I worked for GM Hughes Electronics (which was heavily involved in developing the Impact) during this time. I've never been more ashamed of a company I was associated with than I was with GM when they destroyed the EV-1 fleet.

I remember reading about these in motoring magazines at the time. Those aerodynamics were incredible. Makes you wonder why todays electric vehicles are generally massive land barges. They'd be so much better if they went back to the days of lightweight and aerodynamic

It's kinda crazy to think that if Tesla didn't push EVs as hard as they did in 2000s, we still to this day wouldn't have any real change in EV market.

As recently as 2005 there were still 77 EV-1's at a Burbank, CA lot that had yet to be destroyed. I remember the local news reporting on a vigil that some of the people that drove them were holding at the lot so GM wouldn't crush them and I'm pretty sure actor Ed Begley, Jr. of ER fame was there too as the most famous owner of one those cars.

Crazy to see how many things that would have been good for the public were killed by nothing more than corporate greed. Excellent video

EV1's were a common sight at a now closed GM fuel cell development facility in Honeye falls NY, some engineers used them for regular commuting, though the winters required a large draw on the batteries for the EV1 resistance heating, which reduced the range for some to forgo the heat in order to make the commute, whereupon the chargers in the parking lots recharged them for the return commute, GM withdrew them and placed them in storage for later destruction, the spare EV1 parts at the facility were also destroyed. They were a heavy (lead acid batteries) but fast little car with puncture proof tires, lots of fun to drive

This was an awesome 20-minute version of the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car" - worth a watch, as well as its sequel "Revenge of the Electric Car", both products of their time. "Who Killed" was made in middle of the dark decade of the mid-2000s in the aftermath; "Revenge" was made at the start of the 2010s' EV revival.

If you are ever near Rolla, MO, the Missouri University of Science and Technology has an EV-1 on display in one of its buildings. As far as I know it was given to the university without the electric motor and most of the wiring, but students and faculty were able to get it working again, more or less. It still works to this day and it has even been seen on the road in very rare circumstances (usually only on St. Patrick's Day as part of the town's parade)

This was so fascinating!! As an automotive history enthusiast, I really appreciate you making this video. Thanks, Dagogo.

I had no idea the initial EV push was to that extent, lasting over a decade and being fairly prevalent. And I didn't know there were multiple attempts at an EV transition since, nor that so many automakers produced EVs in the 90s. We had to look them up, and now my girlfriend is in retro-love with the MiEV xD
Funny that the EV1 also had a keypad instead of a key, and amazing that it had a drag coefficient of 0.19! The upcoming Aptera supposedly has a 0.13! =0
Thanks for making this. The little interview and review snippets were great.

I remember this ColdFusion episode from a few years back, and I'm so glad to see it back and updated. It's one of the most interesting stories and, my, were those little EV1s soooooo good looking!

Thank you for covering this. I was so envious whenever I would see one of these cars riding on Route 1 in Boston. I was cruising in my Nissan 240SX then. I never understood what happened to them until I read an article in 2015.

Very similar to how Kodak developed the first digital camera and killed the program because they thought this new product will eat into their existing business. See where Kodak is now.

I've just noticed something about the EV1, the rear turn signals are amber/orange. That _might_ mean the car was destined for a ROW release. That suggests GM _might_ have seen International (or at least European) potential for EV1. Damn.

i remember watching the documentary Who killed the Electric Car with my dad growing up, being Canadian , judging Americans and bush, dreaming of electric cars, he is now delighted with is Chevrolet Bolt.

One day there were EV’s at my high school! It was around 1999 or 2000, but they had them parked in the quad and let us eat lunch in them. I think GM did an assembly too? My point is: I got to see the EV1 personally and always wondered why they didn’t take off right away. Didn’t realize that the Prius was something different a few years later.

It is so frustrating how corporate greed has many times set back humanity progress and hinder a better future. This people who did these acts honestly are on a similar level to committing crimes against humanity...

I remember these well. Living where I do in Santa Barbara / Montecito, Ca I saw several of these regularly. We were all pretty amazed by its silence. No gears either. I think I rode in one shortly but I was like 12. I remember seeing them at the lots. Range was a big issue but price for what it offered left it really for the rich as a novelty to show off or a few environmentalists. It was cool when it came out for sure.

This car still has something futuristic about it in terms of design. It kinda reminds me of those concept cars you'd see in the 50's and 60's.

There’s actually one of these at the Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, GA. Unfortunately it’s not in what you’d consider to be well-kept condition, but with zero factory support it’s possible the museum staff prefer to interact with as little as possible, lest a need for replacement parts (which no longer exist) would arise.
Either way it looks slightly better than a barn find. Plus it’s a GM product, so the quality of the parts used to build it were less than substantial.

Thanks for doing the leg work!! I know a tiny bit of each era of electric vehicles, but now I know more because of you. 😊

I think that GM gave some of them out to Universities. When I was at BYU, we had one that we modified and made into an electric dragster. It was powered by this huge array of supercapacitors. Pretty cool!

thank you for the information. I enjoyed the video very much. I would like to add that Francis Ford Coppola was an early adopter of the EV1 and when he was supposed to turn his car in as mandated by GM he hid his car from them and rumor has it that he still has the car to this day. Also immediately after the EV1 was cancelled the Hummer was introduced to great fan fare. As a lover of the ICE car I welcome the EV as my big engine gas powered cars will be for weekend use kind of like horses did everything and now the are for entertainment the ICE car will be the same. thanks again and have a wonderful day

My friend's mom had an EV-1 and at the end of her lease she tried to keep the car. She went to great lengths using the legal system, then not so legal. In the end they were able to find it and take it from her.

Also after the oil companies bought the NiMH battery tech they prevented anyone from making bigger cells than D type as they did not want to people to use them for other EV's, after the patent expired it was said someone was working on NiMH that had much more capacity so would have been able to compete with lithium ions back in the day but because the oil companies prevented this it held things back for years.

Almost lost me at,"....and GM, a trusted brand in the industry". I literally fell off my chair laughing 🤣😂😆

Great documentary. It is worth noting that the Prius came out not long after (in 2001), and went mainstream, so GM's move earned them, at max, 5 years before electric cars became widely available here in the US.

Imagine how many great cars we wouldn't have got if they didn't do this

Love your video's! To put the ev revolution into perspective it might also be interesting to take a look at our earths supplies and how this ev transition will drain those rapidly. It appears we only have 10 years of copper left. EV's will half that

It was actually a quite good looking car, particularly from the rear. I have always loved covered rear wheel arches. Wonder why no modern day electric cars have covered rear wheel arches? It improves the aerodynamic efficiency.

My family had the first version of this with lead-acid batteries. Maybe 30 miles of range. Cool paddle home charger and a weird digital dash that Honda borrowed later. I was a kid, it was the coolest possible show-and-tell.

It's depressing to think we could've had electric cars much earlier.

I live close to an antique automobile and aeroplane museum and I've had the privilege of riding in a Detroit Electric electric carriage. They were remarkably pleasant to ride in and weren't much more than a Tesla today adjusted for inflation. Shame cities didn't go that route.

I remember in 1999 visiting the Epcot Centre at Disneyworld. GM had a massive display and claimed to exhibit every vehicle it and its global subsidiaries sold. Volvos and Holdens were on display. I had been following the EV1 program in the media and rushed to the counter excitedly and asked if I could see the EV1. A very embarrassed employee, not daring to make eye contact, said oh, er. every GM vehicle except the EV1 is on display... I knew then that GM had no pride in or commitment to the EV1. I was hoping they would ramp up production and sell them outright. By that time they were using better NiCad or NiMH batteries and I vaguely recall GM Engineers were hoping to go Lithium. :-(

If you liked this, I highly encourage everyone to watch the documentaries, "Who Killed the Electric Car" and the sequel "Revenge of the Electric Car". According to one GM executive, "We used to be a car company that occasionally lent people money. But now were a Bank, that sometimes makes cars". I don't know about you, but I'd much rather buy a car from a car company. There's a red EV1 at the Peterson Auto Museum in LA, and Ohio State University has one in poor condition. Thank you.

I was the moldmaker that designed and built many of the molds for the charging units for this GM's EV1 both a wall mount and floor mount unit back in the early 90's. This was when GM had owned Hughes Aircraft and these unit's were built at one of there facility's in Southern California.

Congrats on 4 million! Been here since you were ColdFusTion and had 300k subs, still subscribed to you on my old as well. It's always great when you make technology history videos, I find them more worthwhile than the latest finance fraud drama. Anyways cheers!🍷

Also the patent for large format Ni-MH cells was 'purchased' to prevent anyone else for using that type of energy storage that was used in the later revision of the EV1. Then they were crushed and no-one could use the prevailing battery tech at the time for a competing product. Then GM acquired the 'Hummer' licence and the rest is history.

That first 19C wave of E-wagons was so cool. Imagine the timeline where mainstream EVs weren't sabotaged by the petrochemical-industrial complex.

A fantastic video highlighting how we could have been further down the road to an electrified future!

quite a few years ago I actually once saw an EV-1 at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. I also remember the docent specifically mentioning that the GM had removed the battery and all related electronics from this display vehicle.😕

A combination of great sound track, great editing and a very soothing voice makes CF videos really quite addictive. Thank you 🙂

Finally. Someone big who properly takes this story and pieces it together.

My day drove an EV1 a few times for work and I remember him saying it was super unreliable. I remember being impressed with how quiet it was though. Either way, I think the lesson here is that overall it was mainly corporate and government corruption that killed the electric car in the late 90's.

As other's pointed out: Same story as with Kodak (digital imaging), Xerox (graphical user interface), Intel (clinging to X86 architectures, shutting down their ARM based processor line, even though this looks not that dramatic at the moment - it is already showing, give it just 10 more years). I'm sure the list could go on and on …

That outro 🎶 is 🔥🔥🔥, glad that you're finally following your true passion which also happens to receive appreciation from people. Proud of you mate.

9:49 Couldn't agree more. A friend of mine moved from ICE to EV for about a year, but only to see him dumped the EV and go back to ICE because it's not viable enough for interstate journeys, especially when done frequently. He's considering of going hybrid, but full ICE is the way for now.

At :42 this appears to be the Peachtree Hotel with its circular shape and side mounted elevator shaft. But I don't recall there being a harbor nearby in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Electric cars were first created in 1830. So you are correct it has been attempted before with numerous instances of "almost" taking off. There is at least one GM EV-1 that hasn't gone to the crusher. There is a Clip-Share video that I watched showing that it is parked in an undisclosed parking garage collecting dust.

Followed you for the past couple of years and I will say this you are one of the most consistent people in the tech corner of youtube thank you coldfusion

Nice rehash/refresher on the 2006 documentary 'Who Killed The Electric Car' - you missed the ending where GM explained that most customers (back then in 2003) didn't want to stump up $40k for the cars (equivalent in purchasing power to about $64,521.09 today).

I remember seeing a few EV1 cars on the roads. I loved the idea and wish I'd gotten one and held on to it.

I remember this car back when I was a kid in elementary school Island it came up about Alternative energy, and also showed the NASA's c-10 and geo metro that was converted to electricity.

My dad got to drive one of these one! He had a friend that leased one and let him drive it around once. I also got to see one at a museum over ten years ago.

In a book titled "Autonomy", about the development of autonomous car companies; a former GM executive mentioned that the EV-1 batteries post a fire risk as they aged and completed more charge cycles. He contended that this was way GM refused to sell the EV-1 and only leased it.

I have been driving an EV for over 7 years now, same car the entire time. It still works flawlessly and amazes me daily. I bought it back in 2015 in the early day's of the current EV push and got an awesome deal on it as the dealership just wanted it off the floor. It wasn't selling and was taking up space. It's a little different now! I'll likely have this one for another few years before getting another. It still runs like new and has never had a repair, just annual checkups. It's a pity it took so long to get us here. Thanks for nothing, GM!

Great thing about this is markets are (without government interference) eventually efficient. If everyone wants an electric car, then the auto manufacturers should make one, even if they think it will eat up their bottom line. Because, Tesla did. And these auto manufactures are totally outclassed these days as a result.

Before even finishing this video I know this will be a certified classic. I’m surprised you haven’t made a video about this years ago! ;)

I drove one of those in Tucson. The engineers were Really Stoked over this vehicle! Besides the instant power off the line, I was surprised that the build quality was really good compared to the other sh!t boxes GM was building at the time.

I had an Ev1. Drove 88,000 all electric miles and then was forced to give back my perfectly good (leased) car. They crushed it into little pieces. Sad times. Good to finally see a complete story about what happened

Excellent recap of the sad story of EV1. Also watch the documenty: '' Who Killed the Electric Car?
That goes more in depth about this twisted history.

I remember seeing one of these when I was a kid. My friends and I were blown away by the concept. I've always wondered what happened to those vehicles. Thanks D.A.!

great video! and this is why lecagy auto deserves everything that‘s coming to them. they went the „profits over (the health of the) people“ approach. such a shame. but at the same time…this made Tesla possible. and they are so much more than just a car company. 💯🥳😊 The future is bright! 🔋

Excellent production. I always enjoy a cold fusion video. Informative and captivating

I remember the EV-1…. as a gulf war veteran - figured it wouldn’t last due to blood for oil…. It would be a domino effect - less dependency on foreign oil, less palms being greased from service/repair centers (garages) due to less repair etc…. GREED.

Despite the strides made in EV technology and it's blooming popularity there are stark flaws and deficiencies in the infrastructure. I've seen and read countless tales and reviews of crowded charging stations with broken or malfunctioning units and an experience that does not inspire confidence or alleviate the dreaded range anxiety that many EV owners endure. This side of the equation still needs some work.

I first saw the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car" about 15 years ago. We rented a video back then. Thanks for getting the information out to the public again.

I don’t normally comment but, gosh damn man what our future could’ve been if people weren’t so greedy. A fantastic history lesson Dagogo thank you.

I wanted one of these when new. They were available for lease in my area, but I didn't get one because they weren't actually for sale.

There's still an EV-1 in the Smithsonian. I know, that particular EV-1 belonged to my husbands. We knew because he owned the EV-1 with the VIN 660 and that's the VIN of the EV-1 in the Smithsonian. One of his buddies who also owned one of the cars called him to tell him when he saw it all those years ago. Sure enough there was Phil's car.
We dated in that EV-1. When we went to see it at the Smithsonian someone said it was cool his car was in the Museum and Phil said it should be in his garage. Newer EVs are go farther and are more efficient but I miss that car.

Another well made documentary, always a pleasure watching.

This excellent video prompted me to check something that I had never noticed before. GM was moving to destroy EV1s at almost the exact same time that Tesla was being formed. Weird.

I wonder, as this information comes to light about GM , other car brands, oil brands and even politicians... What will be done against them? One can not even phantom the amount of damage they caused to society with their lies and greed.

I wonder what the GE Executives were thinking seeing the meteoric rise of Tesla. Could they have been the Tesla if they didn't scrap their EV programme?

As far as I know, all modern EV's, PHEV's, and Hybrids, use 3-phase synchronus a/c motors for the "electric" part of their drivetrain. Generating 3-phase a/c power from a high-voltage DC battery pack, requires a very sophisticated inverter/converter and powertrain control computer, not to mention a big lithium-ion battery. When the EV-1, and the first mass-produced Hybrid (the Toyota Prius) were first introduced in the late 1990's, the electronics technology and computers required to implement these designs were ground-breaking, and expensive. For the first 10 years of it's existence, in most of the US, where gasoline was under $1.50/gallon, the Prius could not actually compete with Toyota's own Corolla, Echo, and Yaris models, which all cost many thousands of dollars less than the Prius, and got nearly as good fuel economy, at least on the freeway. But now, we have at last seen gasoline prices over $6.00/ gallon, and the US is finally getting the wake-up call of ridiculously high fuel prices that European drivers have had to cope with for 50 years or more. And at the same time, the power-handling and computer technology required to produce a highly efficient and reliable high voltage inverter/converter for BEV and PHEV cars is here. GM is selling the Bolt for only a few percent more than Toyota's price for a Corolla Hybrid, and the Bolt costs significantly less to operate than the Corolla - at least in areas of the country where severe winter cold isn't an issue. Where I live, in Sacramento, California, a small BEV like the Bolt, Tesla 3, Nissan Leaf, and Toyota BZ4X, all get between 4 and 6 miles per kilowatt-hour, and if you charge at home, that's 10¢/kw-hr, ir about 2¢mile. A Corolla or Camry Hybrid getting 50mpg on $4.00/gallon gas costs 8¢/mile, which is 400% more than the energy cost to drive a small BEV. The next generation of GM BEV cars with the Ultium battery, if they can break the 350 mile range barrier, and keep the price under $35,000, are going to demolish all sales records.

This was a case study in one of my classes in uni. Such a tragedy, however without this car I don’t think there would have been Tesla.

You missed a substantial EV leader. In 1992, US Electricar developed and manufactured two models of all-electric drivetrain vehicles. A 2-door performance Sportscar, and a sub-compact sedan. The company was based in Sebastopol, Northern California.

It is imperative that hugely successful companies have forward-thinking leaders that are true visionaries. They must not only be able to think outside of the box, but, also be willing to take chances and bet on what will be the next latest-and-greatest thing in demand on a worldwide scale. Sure, maybe battery tech was not advanced sufficiently for the EV-1 to be a huge success immediately. But GMs R&D Dept could have led the way and greatly sped up innovation in battery technology. If they had done that, I'm sure that battery technology would be a lot further along than what it is now. And, probably, GM would never have needed a government bale out.
In the end... it was oil company product relevance and car manufacturer concerns over lost profit from internal combustion engines and automatic transmission mtce that guaranteed the death of the EV back then.
It's so sad that the bottom line was more important than their customers, not to mention the climate crisis that was already well underway at that time. Big corporations and governments are so shortsighted when greed is behind the wheel.
There is no Planet B, yet here we are, facing certain environmental Kaos and the ruination of our homeworld because our leaders and people in powerful positions continue to make bad decisions that affect us all in a negative way.

Watching your videos since 9 years. Great content. Would love it more if video quality was bumped to 2k or 4k resolution. :)

I became fascinated with the story of the EV-1 after seeing one in-person in an auto museum in Cleveland, OH several years back. GM donated a few EV-1's to museums across the nation around the time the vehicles were recalled, but with the stipulation that they were first internally stripped of components and unable to move on their own power, let alone legally drive on the road. Several of these exist still as virtual husks for the sake of historical artifacts. At least one EV-1 was donated to a university for students to use as a study aid and testbed, and was allowed limited functionality and could move on it's own power. But again, stripped components rendered it incapable of legally driving on roads. You can find old footage of this vehicle on Clip-Share if you look for it. I don't know if that vehicle still exists. I've also seen footage of an independent group of amateurs who were attempting to rebuild a functional EV-1 drivetrain from parts that survived scrapyards, last I saw I believe they were at least partially successful. Again, that footage was old, and can be found on Clip-Share. Finally, I've seen footage of one complete EV-1 and it's associated home charging system in a storage garage supposedly dated to sometime post-recall, suggesting at least one person managed to sequester one away from GM for a time. I get the fuzzy feeling it was rediscovered as part of a storage auction, but I'm probably wrong about that. Footage of that might be harder to find, but it's out there.

GM spent huge amounts of money for it, so they rolled it out hoping their competitors will release their own model or at least sink money into E tech research. Then they killed it since its really not sustainable and enticing at that time.

I already knew this story but I wanted to see you tell it because you tell stories well...and every time I hear this story I get so FREAKING MAD that they absolutely WOULD NOT take money for the cars...like WTF

Imagine where we would be if they kept developing back in the early 1900s too.

The biggest problem was that the battery technology wasn't ready. Lead acid batteries are bulky, and lose efficiency pretty quickly after only a few recharges. Also, the range was pretty horrible as well as the charge times.

I love how classy the look of those early electric carriages.

The amount of corruption in this country is absurd. It’s disgusting the amount of executives that are so concerned about their own pockets that they will do anything to prevent progress.

My grandfather drove an electric coal delivery truck in the 60s. They also had electric milk delivery trucks because they were quiet.

If battery tech gets to the point of being able to charge in 5-10 minutes or so and the range can take you at least 300 miles per charge, AND there is a standardized system and procedure adopted to charge all makes and models, I'm all for it! Otherwise we'll have such a traffic jam at any or all charging stations. Think of driving across the desert southwest and not finding any charging stations... you can barely find a gas station.

Geez you know how to make a good video! And I’m loving that you’re Aussie as well 😊

Although GM took much of the PR credit for it (GM Hughes SunRacer), Hughes brought in AeroVironment (one fo the best UAV companies in the world for an assist with the overall design and Hughes providing the tech)...another company (cant remember) designed and built the "Brushless AC Motors and the Regen Braking System" for the car.... to achieve the best aerodynamics (it had a drag coefficient of .12) and driver comfort/positioning the driver was blind on the sides and behind...which Hughes used optic systems from HAC Electro Optic Data Systems Group to give him full 360 degree view. They had to state a value on the car at the time....IIRR we all laughed because with the use of scrapped parts, it was really impossible but they called it $1 million.

Kinda reminds me of the story about how Kodak invented the first digital camera - but refused to put it on the market, because they feared it would threaten their profits from the sale of film rolls. Shame that in this case it resulted in several unnecessary decades of pollution, rather than just photos not becoming digital for a while longer.

I've read that one of the executives said, "this makes me look bad" and made more profits on the bigger, gas guzzling vehicles.

Some of the later EV1's also had NIMH batteries, not just lead acid.

If only they kept the program running longer then they would have realized that they could make a killing every few years selling and installing replacement batteries. EV batteries aren't easy to replace so most people would have brought them back to the dealer for replacement. They could have easily engineered them to need replacement every 2 or 3 years.

I have one of the RAV4 EV's from the 90s. The EV-95 cells are BEASTS and they still work