Posted on 02/25/2005 1:21:05 PM PST by BurbankKarl
BURBANK -- After Chris Reeves first caught a look at the EV1, he'd do nearly anything to lease the electric sports car of the future. Now he'd do nearly anything to get one back. Reeves is one of dozens of electric car buffs to stand vigil for 10 straight days hoping to save the last of the General Motors fleet -- 77 EV1s in California and roughly twice that number in New York -- from the crusher.
"If I could get my car back, I would lie in front of a (car) transporter," declared Reeves, 46, of Burbank, among a handful of protesters gazing at rows of torpedo-shape sports car beauties on the backlot of the General Motors Training Center in Burbank.
"I would offer $50,000 for one of these cars. I would remortgage my house for one of them. They're that good."
Mel Gibson once sang the theme from "Batman" in one. Danny DeVito got one on Father's Day wrapped in a big red bow. And car collector Jay Leno reportedly offered $1 million to own one -- and GM turned him down.
For the more than 800 former lessees of the pioneering electric vehicle from GM, they're now a club without a car.
An electric vehicle designed by General Motors years ahead of a California mandate to produce zero-emission cars, the EV1 turned heads. By 1999, GM built more than 1,000 EV1s, of which it leased 800 for between $300 and $600 a month before finally pulling the plug on its electric car program in 2003.
All Reeves and other EV1 enthusiasts say they want is a chance to buy their former wheels back for $25,000 each -- free of strings from the factory. And for GM to recharge its electric car program.
On Saturday, the group will hold a Burbank rally to include such celebrities as Ed Begley Jr. of "Six Feet Under," Alexandra Paul of "Baywatch" and Ted Danson of "Cheers."
"This is Death Row," said Chelsea Sexton, a former EV1 specialist, marketer and customer service rep for GM, staring through a chain-link fence at the "incarcerated" fleet as storm clouds raced over the horizon. "These cars are just sitting, waiting to be crushed -- to make EV pancakes out of them.
"GM is not just crushing a car, but a symbol of what's possible."
For GM, the EV1 is a symbol of $1.2 billion down the drain.
While EV1 enthusiasts insist there was a waiting list for the car, GM officials maintain there wasn't enough support from the motoring public to make it work.
GM and other manufacturers say the automotive future lies in electric-gasoline hybrids and in fuel-cell cars powered from hydrogen.
"God love these people," said Dave Barthmuss a spokesman for General Motors, of the EV1 champions. "But it's time to move on to other technology.
"We spent a billion dollars -- big B -- on that car and we just can't afford to lose that much money. Eight hundred leases in a four-year time frame does not a business make."
Because of a legal obligation to warranty and service cars for seven years after their manufacturing, he said the vehicles could not be sold to individual enthusiasts as GM has no parts available for EV1s.
Barthmuss said the remaining EV1s will either go to museums, to colleges or universities as teaching tools, or be used during cold-weather research in the Northeast.
The remainder, he said, will be "recycled because we have frankly come to the end of a full-functioning electric vehicle."
But ever since they appeared before the GM facility on Feb. 16 bearing such signs as "Stop the rush to crush," EV1 supporters have withstood the storm of the century. The ruin of their sidewalk shelter. And the scorn of the world's biggest carmaker.
All for a car they could never own. That would never go faster than 80 mph. And never drive for more than 100 miles tops before recharging for another run.
Ah, but what a car it was -- is, say the gearheads and granolas who include the former EV1 lessees, GM EV1 marketers, Hollywood celebs and environmental groups such as the Coalition for Clean Air hoping to save the condemned car.
Silent, but for the faint whine of its 137-hp motor, its whopping 1,209 foot-pounds of torque and its 0-to-60 sprint in under 8 seconds.
Tales abound of EV1s stomping Mustang GTs. Licking Dodge Vipers. And eating Honda Insight hybrids for lunch.
And of GM electric vehicles sitting dead in traffic after draining their batteries in less than 50 miles.
But with new batteries, EV enthusiasts say they can now go 300 miles without a charge. Many say they can now plug EV cars into solar-powered homes -- and drive pollution-free for no cost at the pump.
"Electra is running on sunshine," said Linda Nicholes, president of the Earth Resource Foundation of Costa Mesa and coordinator of the vigil, who powers her Toyota EV from her solar setup at home. "You might say I'm obsessed."
"All EVs represent a way to power my life in a nondestructive manner."
For Reeves, a Republican more interested in gizmos than Greenpeace, the EV1 represents a proven technology over others whose time hasn't come.
"I had what I call the EV1 smile," said Reeves, a Disney sound editor for the TV show "Alias." "You punch a regular car and it goes, err-err-err.
"The EV1 is total acceleration -- burning rubber."
A rally in support of saving the remainder of General Motors' EV1s will be held from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday in front of the General Motors Training Facility, 1105 W. Riverside Dr., Burbank.
"Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da-da, Bat-MAN"?
WOW! Any product that can bring out THAT kind of star power must be somethin'! I mean, for Ed Begley to interrupt his busy schedule...
"If I could get my car back, I would lie in front of a (car) transporter," declared Reeves"
Then please do so....
GM can afford to make sure every last one of them is destroyed, if only to avoid future ridicule. The EV1 really was that bad.
I do wish SOMEONE would come up with a good hybrid.
I hate giving money to Saudi.
Friend of mine works for GM and says they can't give these away...
This goes to show you that Liberals are all talk and NO action.Did the majority of liberals in New York and California give up their Volvo's Bmw's or mercedes for a EV1? NOPE. 800 leases in 4 years? 1.2 BILLION? Quick someone do the math....How much to put one of these cars on the road?
The hybrid pickups arent selling....they just sent ours to auction.
"If I could get my car back, I would lie in front of a (car) transporter," declared Reeves"
"Then please do so...."
I'll drive! AND bring a pillow as you wait on me to back up...go forward...back up...go forward
That is only $1.5 million per car.
The real reason is that the charging stations burned down two structures in the past....the battery fires were more of a liability. Plus, where are they going to dump these batteries?
And a pony.
ROFLMAO!
Are you sure they aren't "our" "militia" guys?
Wouldn't hippies hate cammies?
Lord have mercy- it really is a pseudo-religion for some of these characters, isn't it?
That would cost lot more millions than they could get by selling the cars used for $25,000 each.
So GM has no choice but to take all the cars back and destroy all but a few for musems and a few to be used by GM research.
When these liberals scream about GM not selling them the cars, they should be screaming at the government whose laws make it impossible for GM to do it.
They don't need to. Get yerself anything from Volkswagon that runs on Diesel. They get much better gas mileage than any hybrid.
I hate giving money to Saudi.
Then fill your shiny new Volkswagon TDI up with Locally Grown BioDiesel. It's renewable, cleaner, and has a higher lubricity than Saudi Fossil Diesel (so your engine lasts much longer). Best of all, it smells like donuts (or french fries depending on your source). If you make your own, then it's cheaper than fossil diesel too.
Gasoline Hybrids still need to pay the Saudi Piper for their fuel, and even electric cars have to get their electricity from somewhere. That somewhere is often times a gas fired generating plant run on gas imported from Canada (at best). But the money spent on U.S. Grown BioDiesel stays in the U.S.
Friend of mine works for GM and says they can't give these away...
The EV1 truly is a piece of junk. It's no surprise the liberals had to go to follywood to find people blind and stupid enough to actually want one. But a Jetta TDI running on BioDiesel runs (and runs well) today. And it also has a back seat (which most electric cars and hybrids can't claim).
And what happens in a crash...
Very cool!
I did not know any of that! Thanks!
(mmmmm....Donuts....)
I think there are some parts of the story we're not hearing. General Motors used the existence of the EV program as a lobbying point to fight against reclassifying SUVs as automobiles instead of light trucks, because they could say "see, we're making environmentally friendly vehicles to help find a lasting solution to emissions problems". The ability to fight off new pollution regulations probably was actually worth the $1 billion it cost.
GM's statement is absolutely right - now that they have hybrids in the works, and they might actually have a mass-market demand, why bother with the EV1?
As for why they only got 800 leases in 4 years - we don't know the price charged, or the restrictions which were placed on such leases. We also don't know how many EV1s GM ever bothered to manufacture. If they only made 1000, it's not surprising that they only leased 800 vehicles.
The point is that the EV1 probably had everything to do with politics, and was never designed or intended to be successful or commercially viable. In a certain sense, the whole thing was a deliberate write-off akin to a convenient tax loss. The article presents the owners' story, and GM's official story. We're left to guess at what really happened.
I say let them have them. The fact is they will be collector items and only increase in value to the people who want them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.