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The Death of the Electric Car: It Made History, then Became History

When Chris Paine heard that an electric car was being developed in the late '80s, he was thrilled. After waiting nearly a decade, he received his stylish teardrop-shaped car, which he dubbed "EV Rider." The cleanest consumer car ever produced, the EV1 had no tailpipe, spewing nothing but happy vibes into the California sunshine. Five years later, Chris was forced to say good-bye to his dream car after General Motors decided to recall the vehicle last year.

P.O.V.'s Borders: How did you wind up with an EV1, especially since so few were made?

Chris: I heard that General Motors was developing one in the late '80s called the Impact. I got the brochure and wrote GM to be a test driver. They never wrote back, but I watched for them at dealerships and sure enough they appeared at Saturn in California in '97. The leases started out really high at about $600 a month, but about six months later they dropped to $400. Suddenly I thought, 'Wow I can have an electric car.'

Was it that simple?

No. I had to go through an application process to see if I was the right person to have the car. Did I have a garage? Was my credit okay? I can't remember all the hoops but I had to get permission from my landlord to put a charger in, and so on. Then one day the EV specialist came along and delivered my new car. I don't even like cars and this was the first time I was ever excited about getting one.

What was it like to drive?

Fantastically fun. I'd zip around, plug it into the charger at night, which would take a couple of hours, and worked out to a couple of dollars for the charge. The car was super-efficient and had massive acceleration. It would take any car off the line. And when you step on the brakes the power went back into the car. You became very aware of energy usage when driving the car. You'd say, 'Okay, do I want to burn some energy now or take it easy? Do I want to go 100 miles on this charge or 40 miles on the charge?'

P.O.V.'s Borders: Many "owners" have been sending checks to GM to try to keep their cars, why did they only lease the cars in the first place?

Chris: We were offered timed leases and you had to give them back on the day they expired otherwise you would be guilty of grand theft auto or insurance fraud or something. They made it very scary. And so as the due dates come we've had to take the cars back to Saturn and have General Motors pick them up there. My car actually was once again recalled a few months ago before my lease was up after a brake light check. I haven't seen it since but I made them get me a replacement. But they don't really care because they know you don't have any legal right to the car. [GM] leased the cars because they wanted total control.

I want people to know that the technology is ready now, that they work terrifically, that the range issues about how far the car can go on one charge are completely solvable now and that to wait for hydrogen fuel cell cars that are inherently less efficient than battery powered cars is a waste of resources, time and money. This is a lot like when they took away the streetcars in the '30s. It was a great technology that was disappeared because it's much easier to sell gas cars and keep profit margins high.

What has GM said in its defense?

When we organized the funeral, they told the media there was no demand for the electric car, that it really didn't work out too well, but thank goodness for hybrids. And coming up next — fuel cell cars! Now we're onto hybrids, which are terrifically better than gas cars on the road and very exciting. I think for the next 10 years hybrids will take over 80 percent of the market.

Now that "EV Rider" has gone, what will you drive next?

I will probably get a hybrid. We're going to run out of gasoline or gas will have to be saved for airplane travel and defense, and the oil companies and automakers don't want to stop making cars that run on gas, so hybrids are what we're going to have for a while. I think electric drivers are a little bit sad about that because it's short-changed the potential our cars were showing.

There are still a few of you left driving your EVs. Do you see any last-minute salvage? Not for this round of the electric car. I hope GM will decide to sell these cars after a year of having them in storage instead of crushing them, because there are a lot of people who would love to have them. I don't think they'll start developing them again until they have to — when fuel supplies start to drop.