GM built over a thousand electric EV1s in the 1990s, then took them back
Between 1996 and 1998 General Motors made 1,117 EV1 electric cars, leasing 800 of them to California drivers. When the leases ran out in 2003, GM recalled and discontinued the cars. Honda, Nissan and Toyota crushed most of their own lease-only electrics too, a saga later told in a documentary.
The push came from California. GM unveiled a two-seat concept called the Impact at the Los Angeles Auto Show in January 1990, and that September state regulators ordered big carmakers to start selling electric vehicles in phases from 1998. Chrysler, Ford, Honda and Toyota all produced small numbers. Explanations for the retreat vary: a successful industry court challenge to the mandate, a federal rule obliging GM to keep making spare parts, and a media campaign by oil and car interests. Only after public protests did Toyota sell 200 of its RAV4 EVs, which later resold for more than their original forty-thousand-dollar price.
The film Who Killed the Electric Car?, released in 2006, examined the part played by manufacturers, oil companies, government, batteries and the public. What revived the idea was chemistry. Lithium-ion batteries, on sale since 1991, pack far more energy than lead-acid cells, and older nickel-metal hydride packs lost out partly because they self-discharge in heat and their patent was held by Chevron.
Electric vehicles are a far broader family than cars. The term covers trains, trams, trolleybuses, boats, aircraft and spacecraft, plus nuclear submarines whose reactors drive turbines that turn generators. One shared advantage is regenerative braking, which captures energy that friction brakes would waste as heat and puts it back in the battery.
Road vehicles have caught up quickly. Over 20 percent of new cars sold in 2024 were electric, though only 2 percent of trucks were. China accounted for more than 70 percent of global electric vehicle production that year, and electric cars there now make up nearly half of new vehicle sales. Most battery cars still carry a small 12-volt battery for accessories, and a fault in its charging system can strand a car even with a full main pack.
Source: Electric vehicle
