Hanks GM EV1, saving the world Dave

[TheHaas1987]

I personally blame Oil companies and corrupt politicians for the delay....they are greedy BASTARDS!

[TheChargingPoint]

Of course, Hanks was talking about his Toyota RAV4 EV here, not the GM EV1. Great vid, though - thanks for sharing.

[SeaDogLife]

"Who Killed The Electric Car" is a great movie which tells more info about GM killing the EV1 and buying out a electric battery producer company to only have it removed from the spot light in order to make more profit with oil and parts gas cars need. We have the technology and we are all getting ripped off by the Government which is OWNED by the oil companies! It is time for American’s to force politicians to get required education in order to be eligible for office.

[Maxaxle]

Generally, companies care only for profit. Helping reduce pollution? It's great PR. Setting up a foundation for [whatever]? PR. Making electric cars? PR and proof-of-concept.

[OfficialCallahTV]

WWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDD­DDDYYYYYYYYYYY

[capcom4eva]

If GM killed the electric car, how come we now have the GM Chevy Volt with a 50 mi range or the fully electric Nissan Leaf with the same 100 mi. range as the EV1?

[D0li0]

@capcom4eva Perhaps because people began realizing they wanted such a product as the Volt and Leaf. I guess the market finally caved into the demand for such vehicles. It only took what 12+ years to get from the EV1 to the Volt & Leaf....

[KBendix]

@D0li0 Lets not forget that 1st electric "cars" was made in mid 1800s.

Porsche made his in-wheel motor EV in 1900. more than 100 years and almost nothing is done? Technology is not ready? Huh... we went to moon and made micro processors with millions of transistors... I guess technology was ready a long time ago.

[wayirederdu]

@capcom4eva well the EV1 with the NiMH batteries reached up to a range of 100-160 miles and that in 1997!14 years later the Chevy Volt has a range of 25-50 miles (without the range extender)!!Come on!They Now the industries just started to sell cars with a technology which lags behind the range and technology of the ev1???Well "no" its not magic its just skimming the market. Maybe in 14 years we will get the ev1 in a new catsuit back so the industry had 28 years to saturate the market.Thats all

[TheReasonWhyGuy]

@capcom4eva to think a company is an unchanging entity, is ignorant ;P

Back in the day, someone at GM wanted the company to be the first in the EV market.

Then some other people realized that they wouldn't make as much money with that as they would selling the hummer.

Now modern GM realizes that they can suck money out of another market, however they are failing at it.

The leaf is picking up in sale ahead of the volt. I for one am getting a leaf ;D

[1greenMitsi]

@capcom4eva I think you missed the point...GM killed the electric car at the time...obviously now the technology is inevitably made a comeback. Battery technology however has not advanced as the battery technology from the EV-1 was bought out by Texaco-Chevron and shelved

[ytgurlii]

the planet earth GPS joke was lame

[jmshaw357]

Tom Hanks is a well-meaning boob who knows nothing about cars but has so much money he can afford to dabble in these matters--what does he care that his cars cost hundreds of thousands of dollars but have no A/C or stereo?

One-liner quips will not solve enormous problem like transportation/personal freedom issues. No one in America will buy and use a car with a 70-mile useful range. Hank's car can only go 30 miles without refreshing the battery to make enough power to go 50mph.

[D0li0]

If you are implying that Electric Vehicles do not have Air Conditioning, no more than 30 miles of range, and are incapable of exceeding 70mph then you are sadly mistaken. Modern EV's have all of the amenities as a normal car such as AC and Heat. They can achieve 100 miles or range easily with 200 and 300 miles not uncommon and they can be recharged very quickly if needed. As per power, electric motors are unsurpassed in the torque they can produce, ie: diesel electric freight trains.

[goma3]

Your knowledge of electric vehicles is minute, to say the least. EV's, even in the 90's, were already more efficient than gas cars and got more than 100 miles per charge, top speed 95mph. GM just didn't made any money because the bat pack was too expensive. Fast foward 15 yrs and batteries are now cheaper and much better (courtesy of the cellphone revolution and laptop research) so electrics are just way better than gas cars. Even in the 90's EVs were doomed because of oil lobby.

[bd189]

another killer which is still trying to do so to the tesla sedan, dodge c.ev concept, chevy volt are the magagazines motortrend, car and driver, road and track as well as all others. in road and track the tesla sedan and volt and doge all got bits no bigger than the holley carb ads just like the ev1 back in the 90s and 'jp' mag wote about the wrangler ev concept like it was a yugo. people, write and rant those mags to write bigger articles on those models istead of half assing it.

[whotookthemoney]

Oh, I see. So Tesla drove a car on wireless electricity? If you can prove that without resorting to vague and oft-contradicted anecdotal stories, then I'll believe you.

[ddboris]

I just saw the movie "Who killed the elecrtic car ?" What's wrong with USA??are you nuts??do you need more lung disease,more false terrorist attack to go on oil-war or more bankrupt automobile industries?what's wrong with you guys?that nation use to be the greatest and now you look like russia 25 years ago!!!Wake-up !!everybodys laughing at you! even India will sell electric car before USA !Even here(Canada) we plan to trade more with China and India for the next decade.you're in deep shit!

[jmshaw357]

Your problem is that you are a Canadian who has surrendered to liberalism and the irrational need to hate the USA. I lived in Canada for seven years and i found that the cdns who hate the USA the worst are the fools who have never been to the USA.

You're an ideological idiot who is utterly braindead. Keep going as you are, and you and your second-rate country will be in 'deep shit'.

[ddboris]

l'm sorry pal,but were do you see i wrote i hate americans? i dont hate you ,just hate that false freedom you think you have!and for the record i did travel a lot in USA :Maine,New-York ,Texas,Mississipi,louisianna,G­eorgia,Virginia ,North and south Carolina,Maryland 'Pennsylvania,Massachusset,con­necticut and even Delaware!Are second rate counrty is on the top 3 list for the best place to live in the world while USA is in 9th place according to the UN!i can walk around Can.without gun day/night

[busterbaddy1]

the EV1 was cool

[munzerelli]

GM never wanted this car to be a success. The fact that you couldn't buy the car was a testament to that fact. You could only lease it.

All except one of these cars were crushed by GM who claimed there was no demand for the car.

The truth is the Oil companies who are obviously tied to Automakers will never let commercially viable electric cars on to the market. As soon as California backed down on the emissions laws. No ones leases were renewed and GM crushed all the cars.

[fuqguys]

Defeat the fed. Remember the people behind standard oil/Exxon-mobil are the same ones behind our corrupt federal reserve.

[dougdangger]

"GM never wanted this car to be a success. The fact that you couldn't buy the car was a testament to that fact. You could only lease it."

Honda is leasing their FCX, you can't buy it. Does that mean Honda doesn't want it to be a success?

I think your answer is different for Honda. Because communist self flagelating idiots like you hate anything American and suck the cock of anything foreign.

[munzerelli]

ha ha ha foolio... Honda, Ford, General Motors.. It's all the same... It's not about hating America.. It's all about rich people making rich people richer.. Long and short...

[douggdangger]

Yeah, how dare people with wealth want to hold to their money and invest it.

They should be on a crusade to get rid of their money so that everyone will be equally broke and miserable.

[munzerelli]

Now you're talking..

[willywillyization]

@douggdangger FUCK the monetary system where power and enslavement for the masters is the game under the false pretense of "democracy" capitalism" "free market"=SCAM, BANSTERS TAKE IT ALL BAM- how masterful,corrupt and fucking SAAADDD

[heartlessvietboy]

The Question is if a Magnetic Motor Generator can provide electricity for 10,000 homes, Why cant a Magnet Motor Generator provide electricity to propel your vehicle without needing to charge??

[88beauzeau88]

@heartlessvietboy because the magnetic motor generator is a myth, currently. I think one day though....

[heartlessvietboy]

How can it be a Myth?? There are videos that show you it actually uses less electricity yet produces twice the amount.

[88beauzeau88]

@heartlessvietboy Oh! Well if there are videos showing it, it MUST be true!

[heartlessvietboy]

The only problem is that our Government is Milking their Time so they can cash-in off Oil Stocks.

[Goulum997]

@dougdangger you are an ignorant idiot!! Bush is probably your hero!! That's says it all!!

[darkalligator]

Have you noticed the insane amount of cars in the parking lots of ford, gm and Chrysler and their brands , the excessive production of something goes into a strait bankruptcy just common sense.

American car makers needs reasoning, disproportionate production needs to stop. People needs to think about taking care for their values instead of spending more and more for things which can last with maintenance.

[tofu3d]

EV1 = America's Avro Arrow

[boxa888]

tesla pierce arrow electric car. unlimited range, everyone look it up!!

[arrdvark3]

there was a better battery for the Ev-1 that was supposed to make it go like 300 miles per charge, but an oil company bought out the company that made it and destroyed it. you know how we come up with better technology each year? if they had sold the car and let the owners keep them, by now we would have EVs that could probably go a few weeks on one charge.

[boxa888]

soo true. remember nikola teslas pierce arrow electric car, it could go almost unlimited miles because of wireless electricity!

[wirzizak]

didnt they take the ev-1 out of commission i dont think they allow it on the road anymore tom hanks you not that great !

[emforty2]

General Morons is begging you to bail its sorry azz out !

[jimk1050]

Let the oil companies bail out Detroit. Exxon-Mobil had a $14 billion 3rd quarter profit and Chevron $8 billion. Chevron's failure to aggressively market its large format nickel metal hydride battery used in the EV1 and Toyota's RAV4-EV electric cars shows that it doesn't want to promote a product that competes with gasoline. Only a small capacity version has been licensed to Toyota for its Prius.

[dougdangger]

"Exxon-Mobil had a $14 billion 3rd quarter profit and Chevron $8 billion."

You forgot to mention how large their overhead was and how many people they employ.

The oil companies make LESS profit to overhead ratio than the movie industry does.

[dougdangger]

"Only a small capacity version has been licensed to Toyota for its Prius."

Batteries don't pop out of thin air. Large OIL BURNING earth movers are used to DIG for the toxic elements that's used to manufacture the batteries. Once they have been extracted from the earth, they are sent to manufacturing plants that POLLUTE the environment to put together the batteries.

After the battery cells are depleted, they are burried underground where they will haunt us for MILLIONS of years.

[mrquicky]

Great friggin idea!! Why should the American people bail out the auto industry when the auto industry refuses to help the American people?

[goodolbronco]

i just watched who killed the electric car and I cant believe GM crushed and made sure those EV1s could not be driven. tHEY ACTUALLY WORKED. GM is controlled by the oil companys. they only leased those vehicles which made it possible to get them back how FUCKED UP is that? ITS all about FUCKIN MONEY. They're destroying the planet just to make money it's so fuckin bullshit

[ramairezslp]

watch who killed the electric car, alternative fuel cars have been around since the early 70s the major car companies bought out the patents or killed who ever would not sell them , the technology has been here for years ,the volt and the "Hybrid" cars still will keep america and the rest of the worlds dependency on oil and opec

[MAXMAN360]

They only took the EV1's out to make room for the volt!! cnt you guys get it? it's all politics. we all the the ev1 is better then the volt. look what the oil companies did to us, they charged us almost $4/gallon while they were making record profits. I say both the oil companies and the car companies are on the same side. they both have one and only one gold in common " to use and make profits off the midle calss indefinitely.'

[sexyboi142]

yah but the volt isnt a electric car its a plug in hybrid which is lame. i was hyped up about the volt at first now im in a "fuck it" mood about the volt. the EV1 would kill the volt if the both were in complete existance. i know there a 40 ev1s left but there are only 3 volts, 2 prototypes and 1 being featured in transformers 2. EV1 all the way

[dougdangger]

"yah but the volt isnt a electric car its a plug in hybrid which is lame."

The Volt is lame because when the batteries are out of juice, you can use the gas powered engine to provide electricity to drive the car until you can get home?

The EV1 is better than the Volt because when the batteries are out of juice, you're stranded unless you have a 50 mile long power cable to charge your car for 14 hours?

You're an idiot.

[dougdangger]

"the EV1 would kill the volt if the both were in complete existance"

You're right. The EV1 seats 2 people and will not run if your battery is dead.

The Volt seats 4 and will run on batteries and switch over to gasoline, not leaving you stranded.

Idiot.

[sexyboi142]

the ev1 was more of a sports car ev u idiot. and on top of that GM lied again sayin that the volt was a complete electric car also the ev1 has better batteries due to the fact that they last longer. 40 miles and i have to chage my batteries and then my car is a petro car. lame. a 40k car that is just and over priced peice of shit if i wanted a plug in hybrid i would buy a prius and convert it. u must really want to keep polluting the earth GM was stupid for destroying the ev1 im not buyin a volt

[dougdangger]

"the ev1 was more of a sports car ev u idiot."

Wrong shit for brains. Sports car handle well, the EV1 could be smoked by a corolla in reverse. Hmmm... the point of an "electric car" is to be EFFICIENT. Sports cars are NOT efficient.

"the ev1 has better batteries due to the fact that they last longer."

Wrong again Mr. Idiot. The EV1 had lead acid batteries while the Volt has Lithium ion. Lead acids are heavier, inefficient and get depleted much much quicker than Lion.

[dougdangger]

"40 miles and i have to chage my batteries and then my car is a petro car. lame."

So you prefer to have a 70mile range on your EV1, wait 14hours to charge (if you can push your car to a building and beg the owner if you could plug in and sleep on their couch).

"if i wanted a plug in hybrid i would buy a prius and convert it"

Prius = $25,000. Conversion = $10,000. Range = 35miles. No thanks.

[dougdangger]

"GM was stupid for destroying the ev1"

Yeah, GM destroyed the EV1 when gas was CHEAP. It makes so much sense, make a product that will NOT SELL. BTW, most Prius owners are not people short on cash and wants to keep their gas expense down.

Most Prius owners are self-righteous moronic liberal idiots who HAVE MONEY and drive the Prius around to "make a statement", not to save the planet.

How many tree-huggers in hollywood have gas guzzling exotic cars or huge mansions?

You're a moron.

[sexyboi142]

Lithium ion batteries arent completly ready for the volt u ass. and stop tryin to make me look retarded on this whole video thing. i kno alot about cars u probly no shit about car. fuck u and good day!

[dougdangger]

"Lithium ion batteries arent completly ready for the volt"

It is moron.

You're just sore because I exposed your ignorant ass.

The EV1 only seats 2 people, tiny trunk and limited range.

The volt seats 4, good sized hatch (specially when you fold the seats forward, not on the EV1) and unlimited range.

"i kno alot about cars u probly no shit about car"

You don't even know how to spell.

Idiot.

[sexyboi142]

wateve man i really dont care now cuz ur actin like adumbass now noit me and im not ignorant. u probably are but not me. u probably rite the Volt is better than the EV1 but the Volt is a hoax

[LOLDISNEYLAND]

Honestly, what kind of a fucked up company would scrap a successful EV project and simply do nothing else with it in the future? Ok, the chevy volt is something, but why actually destroy the original prototypes??? GM has money to fuckin burn!!

[1morejump]

Go Tom Hanks!

[FernDiesel]

I can't believe that GM got rid of all those EV1's

[silentbob71420]

i hope more people see this

[oldtilter]

well what do you want an engine that tries to destroy itself or the one with one moving part?

[LER77]

Update us on this conversion company.

[D0li0]

I believe that he was talking about working with ACP on the eBox, or perhaps he was talking about Tesla Motors. I'm not sure which but I think it was one of those two...

[Stringbender666]

I have had a battery powered mower for 10 years.

I love it.

My weed eater, chain saw, hedge trimmer and leaf blower are all battery powered and I love those too.

I refuse to buy another new car until they make one that is 100% battery powered.

[trabantguy]

stop pissing about gm, thay are a company and a company wants to make mony not make friends. go rant about honda for killing there little electric car. its there choice, thats like yelling at starbuks if thay stop selling capucinos. its there company and let them do what thay want.

f**king hippys

[D0li0]

Don't get us wrong, we're also irritated with other car makers for scrapping their Honda EV-Plus, Nissan Altra EV, Chrysler EPic EV Carivan, Ford Ranger EV, Toyota RAV4 EV, and finally GM's EV1 and S-10 EV's.

We're only slightly less irritated with Toyota and Ford for being the only ones who let folks to buy out their RAV4 EV and Ranger EV's at the end of their leases.

Starbucks could go under by not selling capucinos, and so to may some car makers for ending their EV programs prematurely.

[mypetridish]

hey i dont understand why they stopped releasing the EVs to the public. there was so much demand from all corners even when gas prices was hovering around $2.5 to $3 then.

wouldn't it be awesome to establish a strong presence in the EV industry before all the competition start to get their act together? look at the current trend, even BMW is planning to scrap gas/diesel cars by 2015 [engadet]

[BlackKingX]

I wish they built the EV1 in Canada or Japan insted of the United States. Then maybe we'd still have it.

[coolcom22]

.... welllll..... can you say "Aero?"

[Riddickmofo]

See "who killed the electric car". great informative movie. i realy dont get why car companies revomed the ev-1, bastards

[Axbent]

@Riddickmofo JUst read the wikipedia page on the fil and see the links on it and u will understand it was just ahead of its time! Check out this channel: /user/pistonturbine

[obed1g1]

@Riddickmofo the oil companys payed GM for them to remove it..

[cypresspuz]

@Riddickmofo Isnt it obvious? Money talks baby. They have made billions since they started killing it. Now we have electric cars again cause they have no choice, oil wont be affordable for the people in the near future.

[adamackels]

There's been an arguement of batteries, and GM with their wet-dream named Volt, what a POS.. The EV-1 would eat it's lunch! I'd like to start a poll, but I don't have any experience on web design, but start a poll on what people want. It would be simple, do you want an EV-1, or a Volt.

[RedKruzer]

Anything happen yet?

[deepdriedspam]

everyone needs to watch Who Killed The Electric Car documentary!

[bluemancraig]

Thank you Chris Paine for making Who Killed The Electric Car so everybody knows the truth.

[pepeceprecisa]

Stop poluting... evry body should have an electric car,, and they wasnt expensive but the goverment order to destroy them,, and stop making richer the oil companies

[98snakeeater]

LOL

With all of the resources needed to produce a single hybrid car, you could actually buy a Hummer and drive it for 5 years and not make as much pollution...

Agreed they may be the future in terms of saving money, but currently they're not doing ANYTHING to reduce pollution, in fact they increase it...

[blaisejones]

you are a tool

[CoWolArc]

I'd have to disagree... An EV takes about the same amount of resources to produce. After that, it's all about how much gas you burn. ;)

(FYI: Casting / forging the parts for an internal combustion engine takes a TON of energy.)

[hiphopisntacrime]

yes, the electricity has to come from something...

[Nichen]

Bless you Tom Hanks

[alhex123]

what year is this

[Architette]

These two men know exactly what they are doing... they may seem like they aren't serious, but how else are they gonna keep the heat off of them? It's brilliant.

[gabydewilde]

acpropulsion com

[sirbflean]

forget all the silly small minded comments. this is no joke. our world needs this technology now, it needed it then. thank you to those who post video of this idea in motion! and thank you to all you "backyarders" who perpetuate the idea and propogate the technology. we do not inherit the earth from our parents, we borrow it from our kids!!!!

[1LIFETheMeaning]

Aegialeus... At least Dave had the guts to spare a 5 minute interview with Tom Hanks to talk about this, at least Dave could see the importance of explaining the Electric car on TV.

[Joshtheleo]

Actually Tom Hanks mentions owning the Toyota RAV EV4, not the GM EV1.

[Aegialeus]

Letterman can be a real sarcastic absent minded moron at times...playing down the EV,

[youtoob2006]

I want an EV1. GM needs to bring back the awesom electric car called the EV1. Go to wikipedia to check out the EV1 and watch the film called, "Who killed the electric car". Youtube doesn't allow URLs, so I'm tweaking the URL, but here's where you can ask them to bring it back:

wDOTgmDOTcom/gmcomjsp/contactu­s/contact_us_formDOTjsp

add to w's to the beginning and change DOT to a .

[Alligator81]

I'm tired of feeling like I am getting my bank account bled dry every time I'm at the pump. If my next car isn't a hybrid, it will be SOMETHING that does alter that annoying status quo.

[joey1992]

the hankster!!! i want one lol

[gabydewilde]

go tom! :)

[bkkautos]

Em.. why is this video called GM EV1? He has a Toyota RAV 4 EV. Not the GM EV1.

[CDickFly]

Those rich oil/auto bastards are trying to kill us all by their total disregard for the environment. May they rot in hell with their two lobbyists bush and cheney.

[guitarpikz]

damn..oil company pay off the fed, so we won't be see any electric car, cause they got trillion more money to make with gas...

[freshclip]

With the EV-1, for the first time in history, you could use the phrase "best car of its kind in the world". And the corporate big boys in oil killed it. Well done, that phrase will never be uttered again as GM and their contemporaries continue to churn out the same automotive garbage they've been making since 1946.

[makitra]

That's so sad that they destroyed this car or even worse, put into museum! Seems like progress in this civilization goes into the toilet, thanks to tycoons who hog all the money from oil.

[SakoTGrimes]

As long as morons working at petroleum companies are feeding the heads of car companies millions of dollars, no major automobile manufacturer will make an honest effort to produce an "alternative" fueled car. Right now the only reliable option is to do it yourself. Diesels will run on veggie oil as we all know and anything with a carburetor will run on compressed natural gas. We all have options, we just

[DuchessJulia]

Death to present GM corporate heads!!!

Tom Hanks made a gr8 decision!

[sarpicaste]

EV1 was killed of by GM? They say it was teh best electric car to its day!