A rare GM EV1 saved from the crusher is going to be driveable again

Summary

The General Motors EV1 has a vital place in electric vehicle history. It mainly served to show two things: Show a viable path for battery-electric vehicles back in the 1990s. Some forces are clearly at play to suppress electric cars. GM only leased the EV1, never sold any, and prevented almost anyone from keeping them when it killed the vehicle program. The automaker ended up crushing the vast majority of them. While a few empty shells exist in museums, they are strictly prohibited from ever driving again. But a new project has surfaced involving what appears to be the only legally owned EV1 in private hands, and the new owner plans to put it back on the road with a modern battery pack. A YouTube channel called Electrek Garage (no relation to us, though we like the name) posted a fascinating video detailing the acquisition and restoration plan for this unicorn of an EV. Advertisement - scroll for more content For those who don’t know the history, GM built the EV1 in the late 90s to comply with California’s ZEV mandate. When the mandate was softened, after much lobbying from GM and others, GM controversially cancelled the program. Because the cars were only leased, GM took them back and sent almost all of them to the crusher. Many EV1 drivers campaigned for GM to let them buy the cars, a campaign that was documented in Chris Paine’s popular ‘Who killed the electric car?’ movie. A handful were deactivated by removing critical parts and donated to universities and museums, but GM required the institutions to sign contracts ensuring the cars would never be reactivated. Now, a couple of engineers and tinkerers on YouTube managed to get their hands on what could be a very unique EV1. This specific EV1 (VIN #278) was donated to a university that eventually forgot about it. It was towed as an abandoned vehicle, impounded, and eventually sold at auction under a court order. That legal chain of events reportedly broke GM’s restrictive ownership contract, making this possibly ...