General Motors EV1

The General Motors EV1 is a subcompact car that was produced from 1996 to 1999 by the American automaker General Motors (GM). A two-door, two-seat coupe, it was the first attempt by a major American automaker at a purpose-built, mass-produced electric vehicle following the 1990 introduction of the emissions standards in the US.

In 1990, GM debuted the battery electric Impact prototype, from which the design of the production EV1 was largely inspired. The California Air Resources Board enacted a mandate that year, stating that the seven leading automakers marketing vehicles in the US must produce and sell zero-emissions vehicles to maintain access to the California market. GM began manufacturing the car in 1996. In its initial stages of production, most of them were leased to consumers in California, Arizona, and Georgia. Within a year of the EV1's release, leasing programs were also launched in various other American states.

Produced in two short generations, the EV1 featured a lightweight aluminum frame and a three-phase AC induction motor capable of producing 137 brake horsepower (102 kW). At the 1998 Detroit Auto Show, GM unveiled several EV1 prototypes, comprising a series hybrid, a parallel hybrid, a compressed natural gas variant, and a four-door conversion. Despite favorable customer reception, GM believed that electric cars occupied an unprofitable niche of the automobile market, ultimately reclaiming and crushing most of the cars. In 2003, GM terminated the EV1 program, disregarding protests from customers.

The EV1's cancellation has remained a subject of dispute. Electric car enthusiasts, environmental interest groups, and former EV1 lessees have accused the company of self-sabotaging its electric car program to avoid potential losses in spare parts sales, while also blaming the oil industry for conspiring to keep electric cars off the road. Its discontinuation inspired the documentary film Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006), and at the time, GM gained a reputation as the company "that killed the electric car".