Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think they're about 8 years too late, but I guess better late than never. GM tried with the EV1 back in 1996, in fact it was used in an episode of Beverly Hills 90210, and was a very costly endeavor that was abandoned after much progress. The car started with lead-acid batteries, but shifted to Ni-Cad then NiMH before it was axed...which was groundbreaking technology back in the 90s. According to Wikipedia, the first battery weighed 1,175lbs and was good for 16.5kWh, while the latter NiMH pack weighed 1,300lbs and good for 26.4kWh. That's a 10% increase in weight for 60% great energy capacity with greater cycling and lower "battery memory." Unfortunately the cost was too great in an era when gasoline was $.99 a gallon before the recession hit.
Compare that with Tesla's advanced in 2012 with their 1,200lb Li-ion battery pack good for 81kWh with even greater cycling and much faster charging. In my opinion, Tesla's success is 90% luck that they emerged out of the Great Recession and enjoyed an improbable 12 year bull-market run. There were many times when financing and customers would have dried up if the economy took a dive, never mind all the financial engineering, sovereign fund money, government subsidies, etc. Bob Lutz was trashing Tesla for pretty much the last decade until recently.
For GM to succeed, I think they are better off spinning-off and partnering with other companies that have expertise in the EV world. I would love to see more competition in the EV space, but I don't want to a wasted effort for GM. They built a pretty good 2nd gen Volt & Bolt, but completely failed to market the vehicle for sale. They were perfect bridge-vehicles from ICE to BEV.
After watching that movie, I would love to get the GM management team of then, in the same room with todays GM management team. They are dumping enormous amounts of cash into Zero/Zero/Zero and would have had a huge head start had they kept the direction of the EV1 team.
I think they're about 8 years too late, but I guess better late than never. GM tried with the EV1 back in 1996, in fact it was used in an episode of Beverly Hills 90210, and was a very costly endeavor that was abandoned after much progress. The car started with lead-acid batteries, but shifted to Ni-Cad then NiMH before it was axed...which was groundbreaking technology back in the 90s. According to Wikipedia, the first battery weighed 1,175lbs and was good for 16.5kWh, while the latter NiMH pack weighed 1,300lbs and good for 26.4kWh. That's a 10% increase in weight for 60% great energy capacity with greater cycling and lower "battery memory." Unfortunately the cost was too great in an era when gasoline was $.99 a gallon before the recession hit.
Compare that with Tesla's advanced in 2012 with their 1,200lb Li-ion battery pack good for 81kWh with even greater cycling and much faster charging. In my opinion, Tesla's success is 90% luck that they emerged out of the Great Recession and enjoyed an improbable 12 year bull-market run. There were many times when financing and customers would have dried up if the economy took a dive, never mind all the financial engineering, sovereign fund money, government subsidies, etc. Bob Lutz was trashing Tesla for pretty much the last decade until recently.
For GM to succeed, I think they are better off spinning-off and partnering with other companies that have expertise in the EV world. I would love to see more competition in the EV space, but I don't want to a wasted effort for GM. They built a pretty good 2nd gen Volt & Bolt, but completely failed to market the vehicle for sale. They were perfect bridge-vehicles from ICE to BEV.
I think they're about 8 years too late, but I guess better late than never. GM tried with the EV1 back in 1996, in fact it was used in an episode of Beverly Hills 90210, and was a very costly endeavor that was abandoned after much progress. The car started with lead-acid batteries, but shifted to Ni-Cad then NiMH before it was axed...which was groundbreaking technology back in the 90s. According to Wikipedia, the first battery weighed 1,175lbs and was good for 16.5kWh, while the latter NiMH pack weighed 1,300lbs and good for 26.4kWh. That's a 10% increase in weight for 60% great energy capacity with greater cycling and lower "battery memory." Unfortunately the cost was too great in an era when gasoline was $.99 a gallon before the recession hit.
Compare that with Tesla's advanced in 2012 with their 1,200lb Li-ion battery pack good for 81kWh with even greater cycling and much faster charging. In my opinion, Tesla's success is 90% luck that they emerged out of the Great Recession and enjoyed an improbable 12 year bull-market run. There were many times when financing and customers would have dried up if the economy took a dive, never mind all the financial engineering, sovereign fund money, government subsidies, etc. Bob Lutz was trashing Tesla for pretty much the last decade until recently.
For GM to succeed, I think they are better off spinning-off and partnering with other companies that have expertise in the EV world. I would love to see more competition in the EV space, but I don't want to a wasted effort for GM. They built a pretty good 2nd gen Volt & Bolt, but completely failed to market the vehicle for sale. They were perfect bridge-vehicles from ICE to BEV.
Everyone forgets that GM was the first to market with a competitive, viable PEV in the US, the Chevy Volt. They beat Tesla and in some ways it was a more practical car than Tesla.
So GM hasn't been makign Suburbans with their head in the sand. They've been making Suburbans while they plan and develop electric cars.
So GM gets credit for trying with the EV1, and it may have been a technical success, but it was a market failure. They were selling fewer than 500 units per year. General Motors EV1 US car sales figures
Hopefully their next attempt is more successful yet. Just paying for the design, R&D, manufacturing development and marketing costs will take pretty strong sales I imagine. As a consumer, I'd like to continue to see more options and ever-better options in the EV marketplace, so I am rooting for them.
Last edited by OutdoorLover; 01-29-2020 at 10:10 AM..
So GM gets credit for trying with the EV1, and it may have been a technical success, but it was a market failure. They were selling fewer than 500 units per year. General Motors EV1 US car sales figures
Hopefully their next attempt is more successful yet. Just paying for the design, R&D, manufacturing development and marketing costs will take pretty strong sales I imagine. As a consumer, I'd like to continue to see more options and ever-better options in the EV marketplace, so I am rooting for them.
The EV1 was never sold to the consumer, only leased and I think only in California.
I think that Tesla's success took the auto industry by surprise. So many poopoo'd on Elon Musk since he wasn't one of them lol
Its a good thing that more Ev's are coming to market. Hopefully they will get better and more affordable for everyone.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
