Who Killed the Electric Car?

[Jessterw]

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/whokilledtheelectriccar/trailer/

It was among the fastest, most efficient production cars ever built. It ran on electricity, produced no emissions and catapulted American technology to the forefront of the automotive industry. The lucky few who drove it never wanted to give it up. So why did General Motors crush its fleet of EV1 electric vehicles in the Arizona desert?

[KvHagedorn]

Corporate pricks and the politicians who work for them.. so what else is new? We, the people, are treated like non-entities because we act like non-entities.

[Dr Mordrid]

GM didn't "crush its fleet". Of the 800 EV-1's only 78 were crushed. The rest went to engineering schools, museums and a few are still in GM's hands.

The real problem with the EV-1 was its batteries.

The first series were equipped with 26 lead acid car batteries, which had a relatively low charge density given their weight (short range; just 55 to 95 miles per overnight charge) and presented lead disposal issues, not to mention the emissions if one caught fire.

The second series had early versions of the nickle metal hydride battery, which was higher in charge density (range = 75 to 130 miles) but at that time was still expensive and heavy.

What the EV-1 needed is something that is only now becoming possible: a battery with an even higher charge density so as to lower the weight.

The weight issue isn't minor. Those batteries made the EV-1 as heavy as some SUV's.

Enter Lithium Ions, which only now are beginning to be made large enough for auto power systems.

Another problem is that the EV-1 was designed to comply with the crash-safety standards of the early 1990s. By the time it came to market in 1996 it was no longer in compliance and reqiured a special waiver to be sold in the first place. This non-compliance is also why they could not be sold or re-leased once the program ended.

The only reason they were even close to break even was a $1.25 Billion research subsidy program from the feds, of which GM got only a portion.

Retooling would have made the car even more of an economic drain, and by then the subsidy was history.

[Technoid]

GM didn't "crush its fleet". Of the 800 EV-1's only 78 were crushed. The rest went to engineering schools, museums and a few are still in GM's hands.

The real problem with the EV-1 was its batteries.

The first series were equipped with 26 lead acid car batteries, which had a relatively low charge density given their weight (short range; just 55 to 95 miles per overnight charge) and presented lead disposal issues, not to mention the emissions if one caught fire.

The second series had early versions of the nickle metal hydride battery, which was higher in charge density (range = 75 to 130 miles) but at that time was still expensive and heavy.

What the EV-1 needed is something that is only now becoming possible: a battery with an even higher charge density so as to lower the weight.

The weight issue isn't minor. Those batteries made the EV-1 as heavy as some SUV's.

Enter Lithium Ions, which only now are beginning to be made large enough for auto power systems.

Another problem is that the EV-1 was designed to comply with the crash-safety standards of the early 1990s. By the time it came to market in 1996 it was no longer in compliance and reqiured a special waiver to be sold in the first place. This non-compliance is also why they could not be sold or re-leased once the program ended.

The only reason they were even close to break even was a $1.25 Billion research subsidy program from the feds, of which GM got only a portion.

Retooling would have made the car even more of an economic drain, and by then the subsidy was history.

[Dr Mordrid]

What part?

26 lead acids?
The problem with lead acid disposal?
The problem with lead emissions in case of a car fire?
The number crushed vs. total production?
That electrics are heading for LiIon's because of their power advantages?
That GM got the federal grant, defraying much of a very $$ dev. program?
That even with the subsidy GM WAS LOSING MONEY on every car?
That it was produced under a NHTSA safety waiver?

Please, illuminate us....not that you have a damned clue.

[Brian Ellis]

The electric vehicle is essentially a niche concept, like the hydrogen fuel-cell. Neither can ever become mainstream without an enormously radical new approach to holistic energy. Imagine the USA with, say, 200,000,000 EVs, or even 25% of them, being charged at the same time. It would blow up all the existing power infrastructure. You would need to build ~150 new nuclear power stations and double up the grid.

"Please, Mr Boss, I can't come into work today because my EV didn't charge, what with the blackout"

http://www.cypenv.org/worldenv/files/cars.htm

[GNEP]

We've had electric milkfloats for as long as I can remember

[Brian Ellis]

Youngster! They were drawn by a horse when I was young! They provided manure for the garden as well as beautiful, unpasteurised, unhomogenised, Jersey milk (from TT herds) with 10 cm of delicious, thick, yellow, succulent cream floating on top! Totally unlike the factory-made tasteless rubbish that passes for milk, today!

I don't think you can compare a few milk floats that do a round of 5 or 10 km/day at a top speed of 5 km/h with a country full of electric cars, though, in terms of energy requirements.

[gt40]

Fastest, most effecient production vehicle ever built. Ha ha ha ha
Has the author even seen the performance specs???
and with a max payload of just over 450 lbs, it could barely carry two well fed Texan teenagers.
Who produced that, Micheal Moore?

Honestly, the vehicle , although a step in the right direction did have issues.
The short range meant you had to own another vehicle if you ever wanted to actually travel more than 50 miles without a charging station, and the range would be severly crippled here in Canada during the winter months.
It was a good test bed - that's all.

[GNEP]

Well then you're an oldster Brian! We have had the luck to have a cottage in Galloway next door to a dairy farm and picked up milk from them (in those metal churns) every couple of days when there though... so agree on the milk thing

And isn't walking and cylcing the most efficient replacement for an awful lot of journeys made by powered transport?

[Brian Ellis]

Yup! I have a friend who lives about 100 m from a mall and she takes the car there, even if only to buy a packet of spaghetti. The last time I visited them, I asked her why she doesn't walk to the mall. I was told that a) she could not cross the road safely and b) as likely as not she would be mugged before she got into the mall grounds. In order to drive there and back, she has a journey of about 1½ km and she can sometimes not park her car any nearer to the shops than her own home, but she feels safer in the car park than in the street. (BTW, I'll let you guess which country she lives in).

What a testimony to the times we live in!!!

[az]

dansdata.com has an interesting piece about a hybrid/electric car concept on its front page at the moment.