Pulling The Plug On The Electric Car

Drivers gathered to "mourn the demise of the EV1, the futuristic, battery-powered General Motors automobile that was hailed in the late 1990s as the answer to smog alerts and gas shortages.GM produced about 1,100 of the wedge-shaped two-seaters from 1996 to 1999 in what seemed to be the first wave of electric cars designed to meet tough air-quality rules. Because the EV1's technology was considered experimental, the company leased the cars to drivers instead of selling them....GM, claiming efforts to market the car were a dismal and costly failure, last fall pulled the plug on the EV1 and began reclaiming the cars....Drivers offered eulogies to the peppy, clean-running car during a sometimes-emotional mock service attended by more than 100 others at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery."

Thanks to Connie Chung