In this process of saying goodbye to combustion engines, The number of electric cars is increasing day by day.

This process of change, which began in the 2010s, could actually have started much earlier. Instead of Tesla, the change will be led by General enginesWe could see .

The car that emerged with the law passed by the state of California: GM EV1.

Everything is a law passed by the US state of California in 1990. ‘Zero emissions law’ It starts with . According to this law, electric cars would account for 2 percent of car manufacturers’ sales in 1998. This rate would be increased to 5 percent in 2001 and to 10 percent in 2003.

After this decision was made, many brands began to accelerate their efforts in electric cars. General Motors (GM) was already working seriously on electric cars. electric car The brand, which won prizes during competitions, was introduced in 1990 With the Impact concept He would also show his seriousness in this matter.

It was easy to see General Motors electric vehicles on the road instead of Tesla.

Los Angeles Auto Show, 1990Impact, which appeared in , also formed the infrastructure of GM’s first electric car. Wanting to bring its electric car to market as quickly as possible, the company began the first real-time testing of the vehicle in 1994.

The first 50 vehicles produced were given to a number of previously famous people. It was delivered to them for a short time for testing. After the testing phase was completed and the first models produced were taken back, it would be time for mass production.

The company, which completed its testing in 1996, introduced its electric car for the first time in its history.General enginesHe decided to launch it with the logo. GM EV1 The electric car, called , offered a charging time of 6 hours for an average range of 100 kilometers. It was offered to customers with a rental program at Saturn dealers. The established sales price of the vehicle is It was 34 thousand dollars.

General Motors chose to lease its first electric car instead of selling it.

Although the price of the electric car was high, GM’s main goal was to rent the vehicles. That is why this situation did not bother the brand. However, the American manufacturer was only able to rent 288 vehicles in the first year. of the vehicle low range, Although it seemed more than sufficient for everyday use and electric cars aroused curiosity, most people seemed to prefer to stay away from this model.

GM, wanting to keep its electric car alive with various advertising campaigns, continued to develop its vehicle and launched it in 1999. EV1 Gen 2 appeared before us. In the updated model lead acid battery, to replace nickel metal hydride battery he had left over. This new battery offered approximately double the range despite a comparable charging time. This showed that the biggest problem of the electric car could be solved.

The increased range of the second generation could not extend the life of the GM EV1.

Although GM EV1 was promising with its updated version, the problem with the charging cable of the first generation was Recall of 450 vehicles causes. The heating problem the vehicle experienced while charging caused a fire and the destruction of a vehicle. Even though none of these events happened with the second-generation vehicles, they have once again shaken confidence in electric vehicles.

By 2002, only 1,117 GM EV1s had been produced. On February 7, 2002, GM Advanced Technology Vehicles Brand Manager Ken Stewart told users about GMs He stated that he would remove the cars from traffic.

In addition, the company said the costs of maintaining the minimum 15-year parts supply and service infrastructure required by the state of California cannot be covered. collection of all vehicles decided. End of 2003 General engineshas officially canceled the EV1 program.

GM EV1, which was expected to be the pioneer of the electric car, ended up on the scrap heap.

Collected the most cars General enginesdecided to leave some of the vehicles it donated to museums and universities to institutions. Some donated to universities GM EV1 The models are reported to still be in use. However, this two-seater electric car with aluminum body unfortunately said goodbye to the road before reaching a wide user base.

Despite a large investment, GM’s of his electric car The fact that he gave up so quickly brings up some theories. There is even a documentary filmed on this subject. You can find the documentary in the ‘watch documentaries’ section of the source section.

Have oil barons blocked General Motors’ electric vehicle?

GM EV1As in the documentary that tells the story of , the electric car development process may be undermined by those who control the oil market. After all, it is a fact that the widespread use of electric cars will cause great harm to these people.

It is also stated that if the electric car is successful, the spare parts suppliers will also suffer a significant loss. The state of California cannot withstand this pressure Zero emissions lawWe can say that the postponement of ‘s to 2018 has also caused the delay of electric cars.

We all see the point that electric cars, which started developing in the 2010s, have reached. Continuing production of GM EV1 and other brands General enginesIf that were the case, we would be able to drive much better electric cars today. So what do you think of GM EV1 and today’s electric cars?

Our other electric vehicle content: