Phelan mourns EV1 as costly distraction to GM

Mark Phelan of the Detroit Free Press, reflecting opinions similar  to Inside Line's Karl Brauer on the EV1, adds that General Motor's research may have hamstrung the automaker's future in hybrid development. Phelan, who was one of the few journalists who actually test-drove the electric vehicle, found it impractical for the real-world. While the electric vehicle had a theoretical range of 160 miles, Phelan found it to be far less with the battery nearly drained three-fourths after 40 miles of combined street and highway driving. Worse, the battery was fully drained before reaching 90 miles out while driving the EV at 60 mph. Phelan believes General Motors was right to cancel the project after spending billions on it and sees the EV1 may have delayed the automaker's own hybrid engine projects which Honda and Toyota, seeing the EV1's spectacular lack of success, used to bring their hybrids to market first.
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[Source: Detroit Free Press]