Slashdot Mirror
General Motor's EV1 Electric Cars Scrapped
jangobongo writes "Yesterday, the last of General Motors EV1 electric cars were transported to their final resting place, the GM Desert Proving Grounds in Arizona, for "final disposition," which for most of them means crushing and recycling. The experimental GM cars were originally leased (starting in 1996) to owners in California and Arizona for three years while GM developed electric battery technology, but the expected breakthrough in battery technology failed to materialize. GM spent more than $1 billion developing and marketing the EV1, but concluded that the electric cars would not be profitable. The EV1 program was ended in 2003. Some of the cars were donated to engineering departments of colleges and universities, while others went to museums, including the Smithsonian Institution. Despite protests and petitions, GM would not sell the last available cars to the public due to the lack of replacement parts for repairs, and because of potential liability claims. It's sad to see this chapter on electric cars close."
And most of our electricity, of course, doesn't come from fossil fuels.
Really? Take a look at this chart and say that again. It looks like about 2/3 of the electricity generated in the US in 2004 was from fossil fuels (mostly coal).
Yes, you're probably thinking world-wide, but we are talking about a US car sold in the US. Still, even with places like France and Japan getting large amounts of power from nuke plants, it seems likely that the vast majority of the power generated in the world is coming from the burning of stored sunlight...
Could GM not just have sold that responsibilty on to a third party? these cars were pretty advanced, and would have made wonderful geek projects for those nerds rich and committed enough to keep them on the road. The decision to scrap these cars is absolutely shameful and, coming at a time when Toyota is comitting huge resources to electric vehicles, demonstrates quite conclusively that GM really is the industrial dinosaur we all imagine it to be.
That was classic intercourse!
a car that cost nearly 1.5 million each to build.
I'm sorry, but I call BS. According to the summary: "GM spent more than $1 billion developing and marketing the EV1" according to Wikipedia, 800 were leased.
$1,000,000,000 / 800 = $1,250,000 --> 1.25 million.
So sure, they cost over a million bucks each to build, if you figure in all the development and marketing costs into the build cost for each vehicle.
That's the kind of math that people use when they want to justify a pre-existing decision. Just sayin'.
You probably shouldn't click this.
I'm not denying they have the legal right to whatever they want. I'm also not denying potential liability issues. I'm just saying the previous argument used ("no factory parts=no registration") was, quite frankly, a load of crap that someone pulled straight out of their very hyperbolic ass. ...and that's that.