The car documentary nobody talks about

It’s Who Killed the Electric Car?, released in 2006, it tells the story of the ill-fated first electric car of General Motors who started “selling” it in 1996 and stopped its production in 1999.

They sold their car in a strange way, because you couldn’t actually buy it (hence the quotation marks) but were obligated to rent it if you wanted to purchase one. So, after a successful lawsuit (against a California law, if I remember correctly) GM was able to reclaim all the EV1s they had rented from their buyers, thus making this car disappear from History.

In my opinion, this story shows how the reactionary conspirators work sometimes: they can manipulate different unknowing parties to reach the desired outcome to keep advancing in their plans. In this case they were making room for the coming of Tesla some years later.

a reply to: MarxistDebunker

Ford had a program too for the ranger, the entire bed was batteries.

Nothing wrong for planning ahead, also EV technology back then was still a bit of a safety hazard and I don't think all of the technology was even 'legal' to have in consumer vehicles, so it went under the umbrella as an experiment they had to closely monitor. Car company's do weird things to their projects, I remember reading once about how the first few Dodge Vipers were gifted to technical schools to teach students about auto mechanics, all of them were tracked down, seized and destroyed or hidden away by Chrysler after a certain amount of time.

a reply to: MarxistDebunker

Some things just aren't economically viable at conception. newly developed technology can change that though.

When GM released that car the batteries just weren't ready yet.

IIRC the EV1 was a surprisingly good electric for its time. And indeed interesting that GM went that far out of their way to kill it.

originally posted by: MarxistDebunker
In this case they were making room for the coming of Tesla some years later.

Wonder if they intentionally made room, or just left a gap that someone later filled. Like Sears did for Amazon...

I think the reason you couldn’t buy one had to do with corporate finance. It probably had an experimental classification for tax reasons. What upset a lot of folks is that they crushed each one when the took them back from the drivers. Again, probably part of what kept the cars in a particular classification. It’s a shame really. GM could have been the Tesla we know today.

a reply to: MarxistDebunker

And, if IIRC they locked away the technology for the batteries.
I saw that movie, people loved the cars.

I wonder if the batteries used in the new EV are the same technology?
The CTer in me says....errrrrr....NO!

But an electric or hybrid car…….LOL

NO WAY!

Electric cars, windmills, solar panels. It’s all just feelz, the technology isn’t even close to being ready to be practical.
It wasn’t then and isn’t today.
California………bleh!




a reply to: MarxistDebunker

a reply to: PiratesCut

It's happening. If there wasn't some sort of long term game plan for profitability it wouldn't be happening. Fossil fuels for automobiles wasn't really a profitable business since you extract the resource, sell it, and then it's burned, no chance on getting any sort of real return or chance to recycle the capital put in, plus once it's gone, that's it. Oil is extremely precious right now and in the future, as Charlie Munger put it best, it should stay where it's the safest, in the ground and pumped up as needed when necessary.
With EVs and such recycling is possible and is part of the over all picture.
Also, China has been in Africa buying up mines for the last two decades, something is up.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: MarxistDebunker

And, if IIRC they locked away the technology for the batteries.
I saw that movie, people loved the cars.

I wonder if the batteries used in the new EV are the same technology?
The CTer in me says....errrrrr....NO!

Yes, people loved the car because the driving experience of an electric car is, in many ways, superior to an ICE car.

However, the battery technology for the EV-1 was lead-acid at the beginning and then nickel-metal-hydride later on. There was no secret battery technology to "lock away". Both of those technologies were/are very well known (which is why GM used them) and are total turkeys by today's standards. They delivered pretty short driving range (between 100 miles and 140 miles). Energy density of today's Lithium based batteries is about 3 times greater and growing all the time.

a reply to: 1947boomer

 They delivered pretty short driving range (between 100 miles and 140 miles). 

We can't deny the fact that that was pretty impressive for the time.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Close.

They “lost” the technology for the batteries. They were made in Dayton, OH at a plant that has blueprints for various parts going back to 1925. Electric rotors for parts of Electo-Diesel locomotives and GM alternators back to the 1930’s. I talked with one of the engineers because we talked about a few things and he confirmed he had seen them and that there was still a couple guys that made them. But no one could produce working prints for them because Chevy wanted that battery for the Volt because of the range.

If the prints are not gone for good, they sure pretended that they were awfully well. Because the Volt was almost canceled when a prototype failed to climb a small hill in front of reporters.

The EV1 had been touted as a concept car of the future so many years people thought it was vaporware. Even longer than the Elio (which looks doubtful of ever happening even at gunpoint). There were a few that people owned. The are zero replacement parts available to those that got to keep theirs. When they car fails mechanically, that is it unless they can figure out a replacement part on their own.

You can bet a future EV1 type of lockdown would target tires or brake pads as consumer non-replaceable proprietary items in order to kill a lifespan quickly.

a reply to: Bluntone22


That wasnt it at all....it was a lack of infrastructure. LA was gonna build it , but got bought out.

a reply to: Ahabstar

The thing about Elio's was supposedly their 80 mpg ratings. If and when Biden's 55 mpg requirement kicks in (supposedly in 2026). I wouldn't be surprised if the mainstream car companies come out with Elio clones or if one of them buys the nameplate and start making them.

If Elio doesn't price themselves out of that market first.

And it wouldn't be surprising if some motorcycle companies came out with a Elio clone either.

Today's Lithium batteries are not what will be in cars in 10 years.

Today's Lithium batteries are good for around 300,000 miles and the rest of the cars are good for around 1,000,000 miles, but the cost of the battery packs stop people from putting new batteries in them.

Today's batteries are too slow to charge, and the chargers are in many cases in places that are not good for people traveling. And in some places dangerous places with very high crime rates.
In the valley I live in the only chargers for travelers are in a small town(3000 people) with nothing to do while your car is charging and the big city (35,000 people)in the valley 8 miles away has no chargers.

plus charging at public chargers while traveling cost almost twice the cost of charging at home or sometimes many times home charging if you are using solar for your charging.

a reply to: ANNED

How come the people going bonkers over CO2 and auto emission aren't concerned about the consequences of how to dispose of toxic, depleted chemical batteries safely.

I mean, everyone knows greenhouse gases are much much more lethal than say lithium showing up en masse in the water table. Right?

a reply to: ntech

Well, my post got my curiosity up so I checked. In 2021 Elio has “restarted” with the idea of an Elio-E presumably because off the shelf electric motors are easier than high efficiency engine devolvement. But of course that price tag is reaching $14,000 now versus the 86 mpg below $8000 auto cycle of the past…(insert eye roll gif here).