It’s the 1990s and you’re looking to drive something different. Imagine piloting a car that was as technologically advanced as a Lamborghini Diablo was fast, and more exclusive in numbers than that decade’s Ferrari F40. Now picture it with a GM emblem on its hood. In your mind’s eye, you’re behind the wheel of the legendary EV1, the first mass produced electric car of our modern age.
This is the car that started it all. While many automakers pursued electric vehicle development programs in the 1990s, it was GM’s Impact concept car, and then the production EV1 that followed, that literally set the modern EV field in motion.
GM Impact Electric Car Prototype
GM turned to efficiencies-focused AeroVironment in California to develop an advanced electric vehicle unlike any other. When it debuted this car, the Impact prototype, at the 1990 LA Auto Show, the mission was to generate excitement. And that it did, courtesy of the Impact’s show-stopping teardrop-shaped plastic body, aluminum spaceframe, and a revolutionary electric propulsion system created by AeroVironment engineer and EV pioneer Alan Cocconi.
The electric EV1, based on the Impact concept but highly refined beneath the skin, emerged at Saturn dealers six years later. The EV1 was special, it was silent, and it was fast. Without the engine braking effect of a gas engine and with its regenerative braking setting adjusted accordingly, after lifting off the throttle it seemed to coast forever in a relatively friction-free state. Overall, it was seductive to drive, and if your mind wandered you could imagine piloting the era’s F-14 Tomcat on the street… and that doesn’t happen every day. We know, because we spent a year driving an EV1 on the roads and highways of California, one of the select areas where the EV1 was available.
GM EV1 Was High Tech
The EV1 came to market with a slew of all-new technologies that are common today, from low rolling resistance tires to regenerative braking and keyless ignition. Accelerating from 0 to 60 mph took about eight seconds. The Gen 1 model had an estimated 50 to 95 mile driving range on its advanced lead-acid batteries.
Later, GM introduced Gen 2 EV1s with more advanced and power dense nickel-metal-hydride batteries that enabled an EV1 to travele an estimated 75 to 140 miles. Energizing both Gen 1 and Gen 2 batteries was handled with a unique charging paddle that transferred electrical energy via magnetic induction, without a hard connection between the paddle and car.
The Untimely End of the GM EV1
During its short lifetime, only 1,117 EV1s were built and these were leased only, with no purchase available. Leasing was a nod to GM’s need to maintain ultimate ownership over highly advanced and extremely expensive-to-produce vehicles, using all-new technology, that were being fielded in a limited way to feel out the market. Initially offered at a lease cost of $640 per month with financial incentives that brought this down to $480, the EV1’s lease terms evolved over time to be as low as $349.
Ultimately, this chapter of GM’s continuing electric vehicle story ended abruptly. The program was discontinued in 2002 and all EV1s were required to be returned at their end-of-lease, either making their way to the crusher or donated as inoperable examples to museums and other institutions, never to be seen on the highway again.
