An Original Gangster Being Saved - GM's EV1 found in Atlanta

[67 Stang Convertible]

What a cool story!!!

I understand this is not Mach E related, so save your complaints or as Travis Tritt sings, "Here's a quarter, call someone who cares".

Anyway, I'm sure there are a certain % of the forum who are just EV Geeks (like myself) and will find this extremely interesting. If you don't know the history of GM's EV 1, it is murky to say the least. They made a movie about it.

To this day, I don't believe GM ever came out and expressly admitted who, what and why the EV1 program was so abruptly cancelled. I'm sure there are forum members that know a lot more than me.........So have at it!!

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[Billyk24]

These were lease only from my memory. Concerns on battery life and warranty claims. The Volt was in development as a better replacement.

 

[Mike G]

Outside of a few that went to places like the Petersen Automotive Museum, I thought the rest had been taken out to the desert testing area and crushed (out of sight of the public). I wonder how this one escaped (not having viewed the video yet).

 

[Billyk24]

Outside of a few that went to places like the Petersen Automotive Museum, I thought the rest had been taken out to the desert testing area and crushed (out of sight of the public). I wonder how this one escaped (not having viewed the video yet).

Henry Ford Museum has one. A former GM executive admitted the company keptva small fleet in New York for "testing".

 

[Vgkfan]

If you’re into evs and you’ve never seen the movie, I highly recommend it. It was the first time I had ever heard of Tesla, and if you’re into conspiracy theories, this was one of the best documented cases I ever saw.

 

[Larry Paul]

Somewhere up to 40 EV1's were "donated"(with restrictions) to universities and museums (Peterson has Kris Trexler's #99 that drove from LA to Detroit in 1998), but the Smithsonian has one, the Nethercut Museum in LA also has one, Henry Ford in Detroit. This one is the only one that has truly escaped from the system and is now in legally private ownership. There are 3 in China to my knowledge and GM has retained a few of them. The car in the Smithsonian was the only one NOT disabled, but the batteries are long dead. It is not known exactly how many were spared the crusher or exactly where did they all go.

The EV1 was the only EV of the 1996-2004 era (MOA cars) that was a truly purpose built EV - 1117 were made. The other 6 models of that era.(Chevy S10 Electric, Ford Ranger EV, Honda EV Plus, Dodge/Plymouth EPIC mini-van, Toyota Rav4EV and Nissan Altra) were all factory built "conversions" of ICE vehicles- some better than others.

We are the original owners of one of the 101 Rav4EV's that were sold new to the public. All of the others including most of the Rav4EV's (1288 built, about 320 of them were either sold new or purchased at the end of the lease). At the end of the program, Ford stopped destroying all of their Ranger EV's and about 400 of those survive of the 1312 made. A few others got out through loopholes, but in the history of the EV1...this one is the only one that has a clean title in private hands that will be legal to drive on public roads - after restoration.

I test drove an EV1 in 1996 and from that moment in time-that is all that I want to drive for daily driving-and coming up on 27 years for me. Will never look back. The EV1 was amazing.

The one sold (vin 212) is an Gen1 car with PB battery tech (early cars used terrible Delco PB but most or all were replaced with upgraded to advanced PB from Panasonic). The Gen 2 cars were NiMh and they had driving ranges up to 140 miles.

The new owner will reportedly make custom window glass to replace the broken glass. Upgrade the batteries and restore the car to driving condition.

 

[ChrisO]

I notice that it has the door keypad unlock. In another thread there was a person that noted that they liked that the Mach-E has that where other new EVs don’t. Well this was certainly the era that they were popular.

 

[RodHower]

Somewhere up to 40 EV1's were "donated"(with restrictions) to universities and museums (Peterson has Kris Trexler's #99 that drove from LA to Detroit in 1998), but the Smithsonian has one, the Nethercut Museum in LA also has one, Henry Ford in Detroit. This one is the only one that has truly escaped from the system and is now in legally private ownership. There are 3 in China to my knowledge and GM has retained a few of them. The car in the Smithsonian was the only one NOT disabled, but the batteries are long dead. It is not known exactly how many were spared the crusher or exactly where did they all go.

The EV1 was the only EV of the 1996-2004 era (MOA cars) that was a truly purpose built EV - 1117 were made. The other 6 models of that era.(Chevy S10 Electric, Ford Ranger EV, Honda EV Plus, Dodge/Plymouth EPIC mini-van, Toyota Rav4EV and Nissan Altra) were all factory built "conversions" of ICE vehicles- some better than others.

We are the original owners of one of the 101 Rav4EV's that were sold new to the public. All of the others including most of the Rav4EV's (1288 built, about 320 of them were either sold new or purchased at the end of the lease). At the end of the program, Ford stopped destroying all of their Ranger EV's and about 400 of those survive of the 1312 made. A few others got out through loopholes, but in the history of the EV1...this one is the only one that has a clean title in private hands that will be legal to drive on public roads - after restoration.

I test drove an EV1 in 1996 and from that moment in time-that is all that I want to drive for daily driving-and coming up on 27 years for me. Will never look back. The EV1 was amazing.

The one sold (vin 212) is an Gen1 car with PB battery tech (early cars used terrible Delco PB but most or all were replaced with upgraded to advanced PB from Panasonic). The Gen 2 cars were NiMh and they had driving ranges up to 140 miles.

The new owner will reportedly make custom window glass to replace the broken glass. Upgrade the batteries and restore the car to driving condition.

I worked GE Electric Vehicle Systems from 1993-96. Most of that time was spent working on a Chrysler TEVan, developing the software for 180Ahr NiCd and NiFE batteries. There where 30 6V batteries in series for a total weight of 1500 pounds. It was basically a Caravan equipped with an electric drive system. I drove about 30 of these since any upgrades needed where done in Mebane, NC where the motor and control was developed. It was a separately excited brush DC motor with a control that was rated at 350 amps with a nominal voltage of 180Vdc. There was only 56 of these produced and they were sold to utility companies for $120k. In 2003 I bought one for $8k from another EV enthusiast that acquired it from a utility company auction. I drove that for 2 years before selling it on Ebay after the motor controlled failed and I only had enough IGBT modules to repair it once (all other similar modules were not available in the same package and I didn't want to completely redesign the motor control). The range on this vehicle was only 60 miles, but it worked for my 21 mile each way to work commute. I also charged it work on 120V and at home on 240V. Overall I think a had over 40,000 miles driving the TEVans.

 

[Vgkfan]

I never heard of that. Very cool!

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

The EV1 was the only EV of the 1996-2004 era (MOA cars) that was a truly purpose built EV - 1117 were made. The other 6 models of that era.(Chevy S10 Electric, Ford Ranger EV, Honda EV Plus, Dodge/Plymouth EPIC mini-van, Toyota Rav4EV and Nissan Altra) were all factory built "conversions" of ICE vehicles- some better than others.

Well, there was also the Ford Th!nk. It wasn't quite a "car" per se, but it was street legal. Our neighbors (and the parents of our goddaughter) had one... They loved it and were very sad when they had to return it at the end of its lease. They now have a Tesla M3 and a SmartCar EV... Our goddaughter will soon have her own SmartCar EV that belonged to her (recently-deceased) grandfather.

 

[Larry Paul]

The TEVan predated the Dodge/Plymouth EPIC. So cool you had that experience. The EPIC was the only one of the MOA cars to use DCFC as they were only for fleets and primarily used as airport shuttles. If I recall, they did not have an AC charge port and relied exclusively on fast charging.

Well, there was also the Ford Th!nk. It wasn't quite a "car" per se, but it was street legal. Our neighbors (and the parents of our goddaughter) had one... They loved it and were very sad when they had to return it at the end of its lease. They now have a Tesla M3 and a SmartCar EV... Our goddaughter will soon have her own SmartCar EV that belonged to her (recently-deceased) grandfather.

Yes, there were several hundreds of those as well as a few other vehicles. I only included the vehicles that were fully freeway capable. (The Ford Th!nk EV was a small plastic bodied (think suitcase material) from Norway that Ford purchased and sold. Not exactly a full functioning EV…but they have a solid following.

 

[MellowJohnny]

@67 Stang Convertible Super cool - thanks for posting! I've not come across this channel either, so again, thanks for posting.

I bet most people would pass that in a scrap yard and think it was a weird Saturn....

 

[67 Stang Convertible]

These were lease only from my memory. Concerns on battery life and warranty claims. The Volt was in development as a better replacement.

Yes, they were Lease Vehicles. That being said, GM cancelled the end purchase option on all the leases, rounded up all the cars (Very Aggresively)-(except for 40 to use for education and museums) and crushed them. Last time I checked GM was a "For Profit" company. If it was strickly operating as a business, the easiest way to make a few bucks is to sell the leased vehicles to the people leasing them.

It feels like GM had outside pressure to get rid of the vehicles........From who? Well, I will leave it up to speculation......

 

[AZBill]

A friend of mine had one as a beta tester for 6 months and I got to ride in it. Arizona Public Service even installed a charger in his garage. It was totally impractical for anything other than commuting to work. Also was a bit disconcerting to know that you were sitting right next to all those lead acid batteries running down the center of the vehicle, between the driver and passenger.

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