The Impact evolved into the EV1 [Electric Vehicle 1]. It became the first modern mass produced electric car – 1117 were manufactured between 1996 and 1999. The EV1 had two seats, a futuristic shape where the rear wheels were almost covered, it was developed in California, and was supposed to be the first in a series of electric vehicles. The next car in the series would be called EV2, the next EV3, and so on. “This is going to represent a great step forward for people in terms of commuting to work, from work, if you don’t have to go more than 120 miles [190 km] a day,” the CEO of General Motors explained when he introduced the car.
Several celebrities enjoyed driving the EV1. The only sound they could hear from the car was a slight hum and the quiet clicks from the brakes. Because there was no lag between pedal and power, the EV1 owner and actor, Mel Gibson, thought he drove the same car as the superhero Batman. “With no gears to complicate acceleration, you get that launched sort of feeling, a childish giddiness called the EV smile,” a driver said.330
Another famous EV1 driver was Alexandra Paul, who played a lifeguard in the television series Baywatch. “Mine [EV1] was forest green, got 70 miles [113 km] on a charge, and handled like a Porsche,” she said. “A couple years later, improved battery technology in the EV1 allowed me to get 100 miles to a charge and then 120 miles to a charge. It was my only vehicle, and served 95 percent of my driving needs. When I needed to go farther, I borrowed a Toyota Prius.”
Paul had previously owned two other electric cars. She had taken an interest in them ever since the oil tanker Exxon Valdez struck a reef in Alaska and 500 000 barrels of oil spilled into the sea. “I was very much on my high horse about it, until I realized that I was part of the reason that the Exxon Valdez was out there in the first place – my car needed gasoline as much as the next person’s to take me from one place to another in my daily life,” she said.379
The actor and director, Peter Horton, wanted to join the other celebrities. “I decided to go electric,” he said. “I had seen those sleek, sort of George Jetson EV1s shoot by me with surprising speed on the freeways. I thought, fine, I’ll get an EV1.” But Horton couldn’t find one. General Motors had removed them from the market.229
According to General Motors, the EV1 failed. They didn’t believe the car would bring in any profits to the company because the EV1 would never appeal to anyone else than a small group of technology enthusiasts and environmentalists. But before the car was removed from the streets, 4000 people had written on a list how they wanted to order the EV1. General Motors called these people and began the conversation with describing the car’s limitations. So when they came to the bottom of the list, it had shrunk to 50 people. The private individuals who supported the EV1 wondered if it really was a wise idea to sell a car by describing the limitations. This is how one of the supporters recalled a discussion with General Motors:
“What’s wrong with the batteries? The ones in my car seem to work fine,” an EV1 owner asked.
“Do you know how much it costs to replace those batteries? A lot,” a General Motors representative replied.
“Yeah, but doesn’t it cost a lot to replace a transmission or an engine in a traditional car?”
“Not as much as you’d think. An engine’s only a couple hundred.”
“That’s because you mass produce them?”
“Well, that and other factors.”
“If you mass produced the batteries, wouldn’t their cost come down?”
“Yeah, but we’re not.”229
The final kill to the electric vehicle in California came when General Motors, Chrysler, and several auto dealers sued the California Air Resources Board. In April 2003, California killed the electric car mandate. They thought the batteries were not yet good enough to be a competitive alternative to the gasoline car.
Another technology shift happened at the same time. With one billion dollars, the US Government announced it would support the shift to hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.330 Elon Musk is not a fan of fuel-cells and nicknamed them “fool-cells.”328 “If car companies can’t figure out anything else to do they give a technology that is always ten years into the future and something people don’t quite understand,” Elon said. “People say, ‘They are doing something for sustainable transport, but we don’t understand it and it’s ten years away.’ And then ten years go by and nothing happens.”366
General Motors didn’t sell the EV1, the customers leased it for $250 to $500 per month. When General Motors canceled the EV1 program, they told the owners they had to turn them in or they would face legal consequences. Some owners wanted to keep their cars, so they fought back. But nothing helped. General Motors called the police who carried away the last supporters who blocked the truck that transported the last EV1 away from the roads in 2004.330
The now heartbroken EV1 owners held a funeral for the cars. You could hear a musical piece with Scottish bagpipes and each owner held a speech. “What the contractors and critics of electric vehicles have been saying for years is true; the electric vehicle is not for everybody. Given the limited range, it can only meet the needs of 90 percent of the population,” an owner said.330
A group of EV1 supporters traveled across the country to find out what had happened to their cars. They heard a rumor that the cars had been transported to the General Motors proving ground in Arizona. With a rented helicopter, they flew over the area and found the now crushed cars. “The EV1 had to be forcibly taken from people, and then the cars were sent to some car graveyard where they were squashed, while the customers held a candle-light vigil,” Elon said. “Now, when was the last time you heard of someone holding a candle-light vigil for a product, let alone a General Motors product? How blind do you have to be to not realize that that is something you should be pursuing, not destroying? It’s astounding incompetence. Mind-blowing incompetence. How foolish. Where would GM be today if it had done the EV2 and EV3?”197
While General Motors manufactured the EV1, Toyota manufactured 1480 electric RAV4 EV. 500 of them were still rolling on the roads as late as 2012. One famous RAV4 EV driver was the actor Tom Hanks, famous from the movie Forrest Gump. He began to search for an electric vehicle in 2003, and since the EV1 didn’t exist anymore, he had to buy the RAV4 EV. “When the car companies collectively, and, to some, diabolically, decided to take these cars back, the electric vehicles disappeared,” Hanks said. “But not mine. I have the pink slip. I own that car, and it is still driven every day, albeit by one of my crack staff of employees. My electric car recently crossed 50 000 miles [80 000 km] on the odometer with its original battery but without so much as a splash of gasoline.”191
In addition to the RAV4 EV, Hanks bought an eBox, which is an electric Toyota Scion xB. The car actually looks like a box and may not win a design price, but Hanks liked it. “There are three electric cars sitting on the Moon, and now another one in my garage,” Hanks said. “The eBox makes even more sense in Los Angeles than in the Taurus-Littrow Valley of the Moon. I can drive all weekend, hauling dogs and helping my friends move, and the only reason I’ll need to stop at a gas station is for beef jerky and lottery tickets.”192 Ironically, it was engineers from General Motors who came up with the best design for the electric Lunar Rover that drove around on the Moon.348
AC Propulsion was responsible for converting the Toyota Scion xB to the electric eBox. Alan “Al” Cocconi, thus the AC in the company name, founded the company in 1992. Cocconi had earlier worked with the now crushed EV1. He designed the first prototype in his garage. But as General Motors didn’t believe in the EV1, he decided to make a better car on his own.