Pulling The Plug On The Electric Car

Celebrities, engineers, environmentalists, electric car enthusiasts and a bagpiper gather at a mock funeral to mourn the loss of their short-lived electric cars.

July 27, 2003, 7am PDT | Connie Chung

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

Full Story:

Drivers Find Outlet for Grief Over EV1s

Published on Friday, July 25, 2003 in The Los Angeles Times