supra410 said:
Car makers finding alternative ways of propelling a vehicle have always intrigued me. I remember reading about the GM Ev1. I was so fascinated by the car, even with the drawbacks. I thought it was just too cool. I had never seen one until one day while in Atlanta. I remember seeing one get on the freeway. I could not believe my eyes! This was in 2000 if my memory serves me right. I'm really curious if anyone here had one & can share experiences with it.
The initial markets (1996) where SoCal and AZ because the lead acid performed well in warmer climates. About a year later the EV1 came to Northern California. Atlanta was a special case as Georgia Power had an agreement with GM so there were a few cars in Atlanta as well as a few public charging stations although GM never leased to the public there. I drove with a friend (C.E. Raum) in our EV1s from SoCal to Atlanta for an EV trade show in 1999. EVOdyssey.. ended up in Orlando FL.. fun trip! I wonder if C.E. still has the html for the web site somewhere, that'd be cool to see...
When the Gen2 NiMH cars came out (Dec 1999) they were CA only (with perhaps a few in a small test fleet in NY).. NiMH doesn't like the heat and even the gen2 EV1 didn't really have effective thermal management (although they tried). I think the AZ folks did get some of the Gen1 cars later when they were refurbished with Panasonic lead acid batteries.. That was a great car.