interesting post on treehugger around the hype & subject of who killed the electric car. the article covers a recent post to a usenet group detailing problems with the electric car, indicating it’s death was maybe a mercy killing. the usenet poster allegedly worked for GM while the EV1 was in production and lists the numerous customer complaints and problems with the electric car. some of the issues …
The range of 130 miles is bogus. None of them ever achieved that under normal driving conditions. Running the air conditioning or heater could halve that range. Even running the headlights reduced it by 10%.
Lessees were complaining that their electric bills had increased to the point that they’d rather be using gasoline.
Home electrical systems simply couldn’t handle the necessary current draw for “fast” charging.
ouch. seems to take issue with a lot of the points brought up in the movie Who Killed The Electric Car? still, technology moves forward. taking into account the ability to set up a home solar charging station, better NiMH battery systems and options available, and the cost of gas, i’d very much prefer that ride over my gas car any day. one month after GM bought the Hummer from AM General, they discontinued building the EV1s. i just can’t respect that.