Fans of GM Electric Car Fight the Crusher

Areometer · Mar 10, 2005

Fans of GM Electric Car Fight the Crusher
Activists, Auto Buffs Stage Vigil to Save EV1

By Greg Schneider and Kimberly Edds
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, March 10, 2005; Page A01

The morning is too chilly for her flirty purple skirt and pink top, so former "Baywatch" actress Alexandra Paul wraps her bare legs in a fleece blanket and settles down for a long sidewalk vigil in Burbank, Calif. Passersby on scooters toot their horns, and a security guard smiles and waves as he walks by. Both he and the actress are there for the same reason: to keep an eye on a parking lot full of colorful, two-door cars behind a nondescript suburban office building.

Those cars are rarities, the last surviving batch of rechargeable electric coupes built by General Motors Corp. in the late 1990s. Paul and a band of homemakers, people with desk jobs, engineers, Hollywood activists and car enthusiasts are 23 days into a round-the-clock vigil aimed at keeping GM from destroying the cars.

What's at stake, they say, is no less than the future of automotive technology, a practical solution for driving fast and fun with no direct pollution whatsoever. GM agrees that the car in question, called the EV1, was a rousing feat of engineering that could go from zero to 60 miles per hour in under eight seconds with no harmful emissions. The market just wasn't big enough, the company says, for a car that traveled 140 miles or less on a charge before you had to plug it in like a toaster.

Some 800 drivers once leased EV1s, mostly in California. After the last lease ran out in August, GM reclaimed every one of the cars, donating a few to universities and car museums but crushing many of the rest.

Enthusiasts discovered a stash of about 77 surviving EV1s behind a GM training center in Burbank and last month decided to take a stand. Mobilized through Internet sites and word of mouth, nearly 100 people pledged $24,000 each for a chance to buy the cars from GM. On Feb. 16 the group set up a street-side outpost of folding chairs that they have staffed ever since in rotating shifts, through long nights and torrential rains, trying to draw attention to their cause.

GM refuses to budge, but several factors give those at the vigil hope. The auto industry underestimated the appeal of gas-electric hybrid vehicles, and now the Toyota Prius, Honda Accord Hybrid and Ford Escape Hybrid are selling faster than factories can build them. Gas prices are headed higher this spring than last year, when they broke the $2-a-gallon barrier, and sales of Detroit's biggest SUVs have softened so much that makers are cutting back production.

Earlier this year, two men who leased discontinued electric pickup trucks from Ford Motor Co. staged a week-long sit-in at a Sacramento dealership after refusing to surrender the trucks at the end of their leases. Ford reversed an earlier decision and agreed to sell them the vehicles, and now it is setting up a program so other lessees can buy their trucks.

"If Ford can do it, why can't GM?" asked Chelsea Sexton, a former GM employee who helped organize the Burbank vigil.

The company says that it cannot sell the cars because it would have a legal obligation to service them and that it can't provide service because many suppliers quit making the 2,000 unique parts that went into the design.

Most automakers experimented with electric power during the 1990s when California threatened to require them to sell zero-emissions vehicles. The state eventually backed off the requirement, and one by one the car companies dropped their electric vehicle programs.

The EV1 was widely considered the best of the crop because of its performance and innovative engineering, using a teardrop shape for slick aerodynamics. GM says it gave the EV1 every chance to succeed, spending more than $1 billion on development and dedicating an entire Michigan plant to producing it. But the world's biggest automaker said the car never had appeal beyond a core group of technology enthusiasts and environmentalists.

"There is an extremely passionate, enthusiastic and loyal following for this particular vehicle," GM spokesman Dave Barthmuss said. "There simply weren't enough of them at any given time to make a viable business proposition for GM to pursue long-term." Instead, GM is developing hydrogen-powered fuel cells, a technology it hopes to market within the decade.

Even Toyota Motor Corp., which kicked off the alternative-power craze with its Prius, has concluded that U.S. consumers simply have an aversion to the idea of plugging in an electric car for a recharge. The latest ad campaign for the Prius emphasizes that "you don't have to plug it in," after focus groups and Internet surveys convinced the company that some consumers worried about that, Toyota spokeswoman Cindy Knight said.

Nonetheless, Toyota is aware of a growing fad among do-it-yourselfers who put a new battery in their Prius so it can be plugged in at home and then travel about 20 miles on electric power alone, she said.

Sexton, the former GM employee, said people who had daily exposure to the EV1 learned to love the plug-in feature of the car. She started working for the company's Saturn division in 1993, then volunteered for the EV1 program in 1996 and quickly became a zealot. "I even met and married an EV1 technician," she said.

Her son, 6, spent his earliest days around the cars and now has written messages to GM in chalk on the sidewalk outside the Burbank building. "This is something we're all committed to as a family because we've all lived and breathed this project," said Sexton, who has filed Internet reports from the vigil site by hooking her computer to a solar panel the group also uses for making tea.

For three weeks, she and a rotating group of colleagues have staffed their site in four-hour shifts around the clock. Their cardboard signs -- "GM make a U turn" and "Sell the EV1 for scrap. $24,000 each" -- are now curled from the heavy rains that drenched Los Angeles last month. Yesterday morning, Paul staffed the site alone, but by afternoon nearly a half-dozen people were there. Every weekend the vigil stages a rally that draws anywhere from two dozen to 100 people, Sexton said. Other celebrities have dropped by, including Ed Begley Jr., and Woody Harrelson has posted updates about the vigil on his Web site.

Last week, a big truck rolled up to the GM parking lot and took on about seven of the EV1s. Vigil participants briefly blocked the truck from leaving but stood aside when asked. Two of them followed the truck 140 miles toward Palm Springs, Calif., far enough to reinforce their speculation that it was headed to a GM facility in Mesa, Ariz., that enthusiasts have long thought was the crushing ground for discarded EV1s. GM had assured them that large numbers of the cars remained in use by researchers, but former EV1 driver Kenneth Adelman obtained aerial photos of the Arizona site to confirm that the cars were meeting their demise there.

Barthmuss, the GM spokesman, acknowledged that the cars are being recycled. "That does include flattening the vehicle so it can go through the various mechanics of recycling," he said, adding that he did not know what percentage of the fleet had been destroyed. He said that the cars stored at Burbank will eventually be hauled away for various purposes but that he knows of no set schedule.

What to do when the next truck comes has become a heated issue within the group -- to stand by passively as the cars are loaded and taken away, or to interfere. "Our policy is if anybody as an individual wants to take active resistance that's up to the individual. But as a group we're taking a passive stance," said Ted Flittner, a vigil participant and Costa Mesa industrial engineer who never owned an EV1 but used to enjoy riding in a friend's.

He accepts that the situation doesn't look promising but said the plight of the EV1 has helped bring attention to an innovative environmental project. "It's just so wasteful," he said. "They have such a brilliant solution they've developed. They've put it on the market and proved it works. People still want it and they're taking it away and destroying it."

Edds reported from California.

> Original Article

rick57 · Mar 10, 2005

I say sell it to them. Let them sign a waver that the car has no warranty and is sold as is.That should keep GM from worrying about the parts supplies.

V8Cobrakid · Mar 10, 2005

GM.. the people who are promoting hydrogen cars.. which.. is lame.. why would they want to leave something enviromentally friendly.. i'm pretty sure they don't use an enviromentaly friendly methods to produce their hydrogen.. remember, they build the Hummers now.. they do what they do, for business, that's it.

If there is no business in EV1... then screw it. California basically forced them to make it anyways.

They should sale them... heck.. i'm tempted to build one.

http://www.peve.panasonic.co.jp/e_catalog1.html

anyone know where i can get motors from? maybe some Regen Braking units?

ALoLA · Mar 11, 2005

Where is this in Burbank? Maybe a bunch of us LA Prius owners should swing by to support the cause?

Widdletink · Mar 11, 2005

If anyone can get the address I will be happy to go help support the cause.

Personally, I think the whole " It (GM) would have a legal obligation to service them and that it can't provide service because many suppliers quit making the 2,000 unique parts that went into the design." is pretty bogus. Using that train of thought, any car that goes out of production for whatever reason should have to be scrapped (whether the owner/driver likes it or not), and I don't know about you but I have seen my share of Corvair's, VW Fastback's, Morris Minor's, Renault's and even a Yugo or two tooling down the road. Alright, the Yugo was being used like a pedal car, but still...

I think that we, that is to say all of us that are hybrid owner's, or electric owner's should take a stand on this one. Remember, today it is the EV1, tomorrow it could be anyone.

Now, if it were the Hummer that they were recalling to de-commission...

Anyhoo, take care,

Tisza

Anonymous · Mar 11, 2005

Here's the odd thing about the EV1.... GM tells everyone they are going to crush them all. BUT.... they keep a stash of cars on a secure lot, immaculately maintained with an employee whose sole job is to monitor and keep the batteries charged at all times.

Why would they bother to do this?

It would be nice if they are experiencing a little "internal resistance" (please excuse the pun!) and some lone voice in management has realised how great the EV1 could be if refitted with the batteries it deserves. All they need to do is wait just a little bit longer for the energy density, cycle life and cost to improve, and then they've got a serious winner on their hands.

The NiMH in the gen2 EV1 was about 60Wh/kg, and that gave a range of about 120 miles.

But switch those batteries for today's Sony 18650 LiIons (220Wh/kg) and you've immediately increased range to 440 miles.

Sit it out a little bit longer until Lithium Sulphur makes it to market (350Wh/kg initially, up to 600Wh/kg later), and you've got a range of 700 miles. No fuel cell car in the world can compete with that! 8)

V8Cobrakid · Mar 11, 2005

California keeps trying to re enforce the zero emissions laws.

What's cheaper.. experiment with already made cars and test them.. or build a whole new set of cars?... hmm.. So.. keep them around.. just incase.

or.. keep them around to piss of the growing crowd that suppports electric and hybrids by threatening to crush them...

ratrent · Mar 11, 2005

To be fair, there are mandated federal and California warrantys on all emissions related components of any car. The entire drivetrain of this thing is an emissions related component.

I very much doubt that a waiver would relieve them of this obligation. In fact, it can't or they would just offer people $100 off of every car they sell if they would sign the thing.

Bob Allen · Mar 11, 2005

It's hard not to think of the EV-1s as if they were an endangered tribe of innocent people rather than machines. Very sad commentary on the state of automotive marketing in this country. Also a sad commentary on the American addiction to huge, ugly, overpowered cars.

jeromep · Mar 11, 2005

Does anyone remember Tucker? Does anyone remember his cars? Well, Preston Tucker was designing a new vehicle as the U.S. was finishing up WWII. Anyway the vehicle was revolutionary. Safety features, advanced engines, the list goes on. He made about 50 units before he was shut down by the government, spurred on by the large auto manufactures of the time. Because his product was superior to the warmed over 1941 models that were being produced for 1946-47 model years they wanted him out of the way.

What does this have to do with the EV1? There are many surviving Tuckers. I think it is a number in the mid 40s, say 46. They are worth a lot and are approaching 60 years old. It has taken most of their owners some creativity and maintenance to keep them going, but they are going. Most of them spent some time as daily drivers early on. Now, GM made a few thousand EV1s. Also daily drivers and fleet cars. Tucker wasn't able to provide a whole lot of maintenance support for his cars when he was forced out of business. GM could provide support, however they don't want to. But GM could sell them off at a tidy profit with a no-recourse clause. If they did that, I bet in 60 years there would still be the vast majority of EV1s on the road because their owners would care for and maintain the vehicles. I suppose that is my only point, that there is history that indicates that with care a vehicle can go on and on and on even without manufacturer support.

MarkInPontiac · Mar 13, 2005

I'm a former EV1 Driver who now lives in Michigan.
I just put my deposit down on a Prius yesterday (3/12/05).

Frankly - I would LOVE a plug in hybrid. My commute is 45 miles (60-90 minutes). Half is "city" driving and half is "highway". I use the " " because I-275/I-696 has an average speed of 35-45 MPH, stop and go, during 'rush' hour ( 25-45 during bad weather or accident situations) which qualifies for city driving.
If it were pure highway (60-70 MPH) I would find a nice ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicle with good mileage to drive and not worry so much about the electric component. But - with my mixed driving environment, I would really like to switch to pure electric drive in stop-n-go traffic and surface street driving - but have the option to kick it to gas drive in stable, even flow, highway driving. Both powertrains have their strengths - why not use them?
Granted I have a garage, so plugging in (assuming it's as easy as the EV1 was) is a no-brainer. I plug in my cell phone and my palm T3 - why not my car? Anything to avoid standing in the freezing cold at 5:30 am twice a week like I do now!
Yes - it would be a challenge if I lived in an apartment with no access to electricity - but that's the beauty of having a wide variety of cars with a wide variety of options. I would love a T-zero (all electric race car) but I can't afford it. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be available for those whose situation allows them to support it.

Battery drive alone in the right situation is provides amazing performance and convenience - and having to plug in is a minor price pay. It just sits there overnight anyway! Why not spend an extra 30 seconds of effort to plug in and enjoy the experience of cruising by a gas station in the warm comfort of your car the next morning?

This has been a bit rambling, and is also my first post to this forum, so I guess I'd better apologize. Sorry! I'll keep it brief in the future. It's just the EV1 was my greatest car ever and it still excites me.....
Regards,
Mark

skruse · Mar 13, 2005

I tried to purchase a RAV4 EV (plug-in only). Toyota canceled the program in midstream citing "lack of consumer demand." RAV4 EVs are only available to fleets (cities, utility districts, counties). I would love to plug-in our Prius. My 30 mi (45 km) daily commute would be perfect.

EVs are "not yet feasible" because fewer parts means less maintenance. No matter EVs come close to being a true ZEV (particulate matter is still stirred up by tires and a moving vehicle) and would greatly help to improve air quality.

V8Cobrakid · Mar 13, 2005

i think for the most part. All of these cars get crappy advertisment. Sure, the prius is high demand.. and it has it's commercials.. but it really doesn't tell you much. it's only sparking interest to people who are thinking about it already or looking for that sort of car.

I never heard anything about the Rav4 electics.. and i remember only a few tiny things about the EV1's. Most info on the EV1, i looked up.

*shrug* good thing the prius has gone mainstream. It's breaking the ice for new technology. Some companies may use the hybrid powertrain for the wrong purpose... gain in HP instead of lower emissions.... but it's still utilizing the system.. i guess.

I wonder if anyone else besides Ford will develop a hybrid system as good as or better than Toyotas? hmm.. That would put some interesting pressure on Toyota.

MarkInPontiac: welcome to PriusChat. everyone is welcome. Don't worry... As techno geeks, electrical engineers, and enthusiest, we all chat too much hehe

efusco · Mar 14, 2005

Am I the only one who thinks this vigil and hand wringing over out of date EVs is a collosal waste of time and energy?

To a degree I understand where the passion comes from...as a Prius owner how could I not. But the future is not in grid charged EVs.

I do think GM is being stupid in not finding a way to sell the remaining vehicles, sans warranty, to the consumers who so dearly want them.

Wolfman · Mar 14, 2005

I just consider the source, in this case GM, and shake my head. I'm not surprised for what they are doing, nor am I surprised for their screw the public that wants it attitude. GM never wanted the EV program to succeed. Had they bothered to market the car everywhere that it would have been useful, they would have sold alot more. They would have then been at the forefront on vehicle range with the current capacity of NiMh batteries.

I know I would love an EV. I could then eliminate my fuel stops entirely related to commuting. My Prius would then become the "secondary" vehicle for trips.

DaveinOlyWA · Mar 15, 2005

LOLOL

it figures... GM finally built something that people wanted and they CRUSHED them....

pathetic just pathetic

Fans of GM Electric Car Fight the Crusher

Areometer Silver Business Sponsor

rick57 Member

V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

ALoLA New Member

Widdletink Member

Anonymous Guest

V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

ratrent New Member

Bob Allen Captainbaba

jeromep Member

MarkInPontiac New Member

skruse Senior Member

V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

efusco Moderator Emeritus
Staff Member

Wolfman New Member

DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

About PriusChat

Quick Navigation

Like us on Facebook

Buy us a beer!

Useful Searches

Fans of GM Electric Car Fight the Crusher

Areometer Silver Business Sponsor

rick57 Member

V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

ALoLA New Member

Widdletink Member

Anonymous Guest

V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

ratrent New Member

Bob Allen Captainbaba

jeromep Member

MarkInPontiac New Member

skruse Senior Member

V8Cobrakid Green Handyman

efusco Moderator Emeritus Staff Member

Wolfman New Member

DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

efusco Moderator Emeritus
Staff Member