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GM EV1 WWU Resurrection

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Revision as of 15:30, 21 December 2007 by 74.61.37.1 (talk) (→‎GM Reacts: drive -> driven)
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Is this a new aerodynamic version of the Chevy Volt? No, It's the decade old EV1!

Of the original 1115 GM EV1s only 40 or so still exist. These were severely disabled by GM and given to universities and museums. A few more may still exist as part of GM's fool cell research projects. In Early December of 2007 one of them was resurrected, making its first public appearance Dec 8th at Renewable L.A., and then a few days later at the Seattle chapter of the Electric Auto Association's monthly meeting on December 11th.

The 1997 PbA (Lead Acid) EV1 was reanimated by university faculty, students, EV Bones, and Pv's donated Tech2 scanner! Mike, a retired instructor made sure to mention that the car was a part of their ongoing Hybrid project as GM stipulated that the EV1 must not be used as an EV as part of their agreement when donating it to the school.

YouTube Videos

Enjoy this collection of videos, just in time for the holidays! The last three are from the SEVA meeting (left to right then top to bottom).

More Links

GM Reacts

Enjoyed the EV1 at last month's meeting? Good, because it may be the last time you ever see it running again. GM has already sent a cease and desist order to WWU and threatened legal action if they ever see video or hear of it running as a "non-hybrid" electric again. GM contacted WWU attempting to intimidate them into keeping things quiet. GM was upset and said their contract had been breached and that the YouTube videos made them look bad. GM may already be pursuing legal action against the University of Madison Wisconsin who also restored their EV1 <ref>University of Madison Wisconsin Reincarnates it's EV1:

GM says that the EV1s are not to be driven on on public or private roads or shown in public forums. --Rjf 22:35, 20 December 2007 (CST)

RJF wrote (2007.12.18):

Have you seen the recent comment added to the "EV1 On The Road!" video regarding the EV1 restoration posted by "wasityou"?
lisaBham (2007.12.17)
Actually... GM just sent the university a cease and desist order. :-(
When I asked "lisaBham" about the comment I got this reply:
My dad is Mike Seal (Founder and former director of the VRI, and team leader on the university's EV1 project)
To which I replied:
Well shucks, that's a bummer. But what exactly do they want the school to "cease and desist"? Isn't this just a step towards turning the car into a hybrid? Wasn't that the original purpose of the donation of the vehicle?
lisaBham replied:
Yes, but I guess it's for the lawyers to sort out now. School isn't in session now, so nothing has been decided yet.

Our take

Time to come up with the perfect spin for this story with just the right balance of disgrace and encouragement for GM.

GM in their infinite wisdom to promote their green image and new EV design studio is considering taking legal action against universities to which GM gave EV1 carcases to a half decade ago. Turns out the schools technical departments were somehow able to revive their EV1's as part of the process of hybridizing them as stipulated in the donation contracts<ref>Does anyone have a copy of a Universities EV1 contract? Some might be interested in it's content.</ref>. Unfortunately the schools let some people see the vehicles and also may have let their tires touch a roads surface, which is apparently prohibited. So it seems that GM may be suing the schools<ref>How about some links to the suites?</ref>, but why you ask?

</ref>

  • Because it takes the edge of the Volt Hype if people knew that the EV1 existed a decade ago and was already so close to a series hybrid. GM had a running 4 seat EV1 at the EVS-18 in Beijing (1998) and also shown at the autoshow back then which was a series hybrid with as much range as the Volt. <ref>Add links to Gen3 EV1, if you can still find any of it.</ref>
  • To ensure that only GMs own pre-approved and focus group branded "Green Image" is promoted, being green is subjective after all, isn't it?
  • Perhaps because GM has become <insert expletive here>?
  • ...
  • ...
  • ...

References

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