GM announces sell of EVs by fall of 1996

Printer-Friendly Version

GM to market electric cars for $35,000, Mon, 8 Jan 1996 By Matt Nauman and Pam Kramer Mercury News Staff Writers

DETROIT -- Californians will get their first chance to buy a mass-produced electric car from a major automaker later this year.

In an announcement in Los Angeles Thursday, General Motors Chairman Jack Smith said the company will sell two-seat electric cars, to be called the GM EV1, starting in the fall. The cars will cost about $35,000 and will be sold by Saturn dealers in Los Angeles and San Diego as well as in Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.

Based on the Impact, the GM electric car that was tested last year by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. customers in the Bay Area, the EV1 will be able to travel 70 miles in the city or 90 miles on the highway after a three-hour 220-volt charge. Recharging with a standard household 110-volt outlet will take 15 hours, GM said.

GM's announcement comes just as California seems poised to relax the nation's strictest zero-emissions policy. California mandates that 2 percent of vehicles sold by major automakers in the state have zero emissions by 1998. That expands to 10 percent of all sales by 2003.

But under heavy pressure from automakers, who have waged an active lobbying and advertising campaign against the mandates, the California Air Resources Board seems to be about to change its ruling. The Big Three have said battery technology hasn't progressed enough to allow them to build an electric vehicle that will be acceptable to the consumer in terms of performance, range, features and price. After hearings last year, one CARB member said it was likely the board would move to adopt voluntary standards in March.

Still, even as they worked against it, the automakers have been progressing toward making workable electric vehicles. Many industry and environmental observers characterized GM's introduction as a major -- albeit risky -- power play by GM.

``If there's no mandate, then . . . they're the only game in town,'' said Patricia Patano, marketing director at J.D. Power and Associates. ``It certainly gives them a leg-up on the potential. What that potential is certainly remains to be seen.''

Under the mandate system, observers said, more automakers would have been forced into competition for a small and unproven pool of consumers. Patano said that early research has shown that there is consumer interest in electric vehicles. But that interest has tended to be mainly among younger people who may not be able to afford costly electric vehicles.

Apparent contradiction Linda Waade, executive director of the Santa Monica-based Coalition for Clean Air, said her group was delighted by GM's decision. She noted that GM's announcement seems to contradict everything the automakers have been saying about the viability of electric-powered vehicles.

``The automakers have said all summer long (that) the technology's not there, the range isn't there, the batteries aren't good enough, it'll be a failure,'' she said. ``(GM's) announcement today flies in the face of what they've been testifying to in these workshops.''

Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Corp. had previously announced plans to sell an electric pickup truck and an electric minivan, respectively, but not until 1997 or 1998.

GM won't say how many of the EV1s, which will be built in Lansing, Mich., it thinks it will sell, although the company believes it will be able to build enough to meet market demand. Early buyers are expected to be both curious and high-tech-oriented.

`A real car' ``This is a real car,'' said Ken Baker, GM's vice president for research and development and former head of its electric-vehicle program. By that, he said, GM means that EV1 buyers can expect the same quality and service as any buyers of cars with internal combustion engines.

One of the major questions is whether an infrastructure can be put into place quickly enough to serve EV1 buyers. Dealers need to train salespeople and mechanics and buy new equipment to service the cars. Buyers will have to get chargers in their garages and perhaps at their workplaces. GM is already working with other automakers and with utilities to make the process work, Baker said.

Southern California and Arizona were chosen because of their temperate climates -- cold temperatures zap battery range -- and because the cities worked actively to solicit this debut of electric vehicles. Expansion to other places, such as the Bay Area, will come ``when we're ready and when the market is ready,'' Baker said.

Representatives for Chrysler and Ford seemed a bit peeved that GM was getting all sorts of media attention for its announcement. ``Each company is looking at what will be a very, very small, incremental market to develop for electric vehicles,'' said Chris Preuss, a Chrysler environmental and regulatory affairs spokesman. ``We don't believe a vehicle running on a lead-acid battery is going to be consumer-viable at this point.''

Strong dealer system Baker said GM chose Saturn stores to sell the GM EV1 because they're known for having an outstanding dealer system, and the demographics of Saturn shoppers fit potential EV customers. Initial buyers will be those who purchased a VCR or CD player first, for example, and others involved in high-technology or environmentalism and car buffs.

Baker, who brought cigars to work Thursday to celebrate the ``birth'' of the EV1, said he's even given rides to people like actor-racer Paul Newman. ``He loved the car,'' he said.

Smith, who spoke at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show, also said that GM will sell an electric version of its Chevrolet S-10 pickup nationwide starting in 1997. The conversion of these vehicles will be done by GM in Shreveport, La.

The EV1 will have power steering, regenerative braking, a driver's-side air bag, air conditioning, cruise control, anti-lock brakes, an AM/FM stereo and tilt steering. Power comes from 26 12-volt batteries.

Last year, more than 500 drivers in a dozen cities put 300,000 miles on GM Impacts during the company's PrEView Drive program. During a two-day test drive of one of the PrEView Impacts, a Mercury News test driver found the car most notable for its peppy performance, eerily quiet ride and unique body style that looked like a French car from the '60s.

Charging the battery wasn't much of a chore, although constantly calculating how much energy was left vs. how far you wanted to drive was an issue. One strange quirk was the starter: Drivers push a button instead of inserting a key.

While it seems obvious that more electric cars will soon be on the road, it's unlikely that any mass movement out of gasoline-powered vehicles will take place soon. ``We are a long way away from an everyday-driven electric vehicle as a part of our consumer life,'' Preuss said. But Mike Gage, head of CalStart, a statewide consortium of private and public companies and agencies working to develop the electric vehicle industry in California, had a different view:

``I am sure that people made that argument about computers, when Apple was launched,'' he said. ``Why would anybody go with anybody besides IBM?' ''

Published 1/05/96 in the San Jose Mercury News. ...
San Jose Mercury Center Online editor JOHN MURRELL (JMurrell@aol.com) (feedback@sjmercury.com) Fax(408)288-8060, Tel# 408-920-5958, 800- 870-NEWS Mercury News 750 Ridder Park Drive., San Jose, CA 95190 USA http://www.sjmercury.com/
---

EVs in the News

Main Menu

dcoale@wdl.lmco.com                   ___o\____
(408) 473-6481 (w)              =)----/()_____()\
(415) 493-4503 (h)