Skip to Content

WoW Insider is getting ready for BlizzCon!

Filed under: Time Warp, Hybrids/Alternative, Green, GM

Did CARB kill the electric car?

The General Motors EV1 has turned into one of the largest scapegoats in the automotive industry. Many people believe that the futuristic electric car was put to pasture long before its full usefulness had been met, a controversial viewpoint supported by the Chris Paine film, "Who Killed the Electric Car." To those conspiracy theorists, Angus MacKenzie at Motor Trend has another take to offer: blame CARB. While the California Air Resources Board has been blamed for many things, the death of the electric car is not often one of them. But MacKenzie quotes Howard Wilson, a man deeply involved in the EV1 program, as suggesting that the engineering team wanted to make the electric car a hybrid using a small gas turbine engine which could make enough electricity for the electric motors without a large battery. This could have reduced the weight of the vehicle and increased its range exponentially. Why didn't they do it? CARB had mandated that the automakers needed to offer at least two percent of their fleets as zero emission vehicles, which effectively sealed the fate of the hybrid EV1. These happenings left the door wide open for other companies, Toyota in particular, to carve out the hybrid niche for themselves. The rest, as they say, is history.

[Source: Motor Trend]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)

Featured Galleries

First Drive: 2010 BMW X6 M
2010 Jaguar XJ
Fiat 500C UK launch
1931 Miller V16 racing car
Review: 2009 Ford Edge Sport
2010 Hyundai Sonata - spy shots
Ferrari at 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed
Bridgestone 3G RFT
Review: 2009 Smart ForTwo
Forza 3 Japanese Screen Shots
Review: 2009 Audi A6 3.0T
2010 Lamborghini LP550-2
AOL Autos

Find Your Next Car


Autoblog Video

Autoblog Green

BloggingStocks

Download Squad

Engadget

Joystiq

Autoblog Spanish

Switched.com

FanHouse

Asylum