1997 GM EV1 Electric Vehicle Magazine “Plugged In”

This is a GM multi page publication, Volume 1, Number 1, in very good condition and stored since new. It has a lot of graphic content about the EV1 written for the younger generation. There is no paid advertising – all GM content, and printed In standard magazine size; 8.5 X 11”

History of the EV1

What we've been told is that the GM EV1, the first realistic electric car from a modern automaker, was killed off by shortsighted corporate greed over twenty one years ago. So good it threatened entrenched interests, every single one of the 1,117 EV1s was declared a failed experiment, pulled off the road over the protests of happy lessees, and crushed.

The EV1 was developed mainly in reaction to a 1990 move by the California Air Resources Board to institute the nation's first zero-emission law requiring electric cars to comprise a set percentage of a manufacturer's total sales. Ironically, CARB's policy was in part inspired by GM's promising 1990 Impact EV concept—that had to sting a bit. So GM grudgingly went through with building it, called it the EV1, and in 1996 launched a lease program for eager customers in California, Arizona, and later Georgia. I was one of those happy lessees..

Its heavy lead-acid battery pack meant it could barely travel 100 miles, though a nickel-metal hydride pack added in 1999 boosted the range to an incredible-for-the-time 140 miles. An asynchronous electric motor similar to the kind used in modern EVs helped route 137 horsepower and 110 lb-ft of torque through the front wheels. Aside from the plastic interior and parts-bin switchgear, the EV1 was by far the most advanced and thoroughly modern car GM had ever built. Unfortunately, GM couldn't wait to stop building it.