The former boss of GM, Rick Wagoner — who was ousted just before the firm went bankrupt last year — once told me that his worst single management mistake was to kill the EV1 electric car programme. Designed to be the first bespoke modern ‘mass market’ electric car, the EV1 was cancelled in 2003 after seven years on sale. It went on to star in Chris Paine’s damning film documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car?
Wagoner never thought the EV1 would earn a dime. That’s why, he claims, he scrapped it. In retrospect, he believed it could have given GM the green PR ‘halo’ currently enjoyed by Toyota and its hybrid Prius. According to GM’s former R&D boss, its cancellation also cost GM ten years in electric car know-how.
The story may, however, have a happy ending for GM. Out of the EV1’s ashes, the Chevrolet Volt is rising. While the Prius has been the part-electric, part-petrol green car star of the past decade, the Volt — and its mechanically identical cousin, Opel/Vauxhall Ampera — is likely to be the next big thing.
The spiritual successor to the EV1, the Volt/Ampera is due to go on sale in 2012. A ‘full time’ electric car — unlike the hybrid Prius, which runs on conventional petrol power for most of the time — the Ampera will have similar performance to a conventional four-cylinder car. Just as important, it will have a similar driving range. As GM’s former product chief Bob Lutz put it, “It’s the first electric car without range anxiety.”
The Ampera can run 40 miles on a single three-hour charge from the mains. According to GM, that’s easily enough for most people’s daily commute. If you need to go further, the Volt’s onboard 1.4-litre petrol generator (which can also run on biofuel) automatically kicks in to charge the batteries. Maximum driving range is then about 320 miles, just like a conventional car.
‘Fuel’ economy depends on how often — if ever — you need to use the generator. But even with regular use, GM reckons the Ampera will be more than twice as green as the best equivalent-sized diesel or hybrid car. On the current European test cycle, it emits less than 40g/km of CO2 (the latest Prius emits 89g).
The Ampera is one of many electric or part-electric vehicles that will change the landscape of our roads. Hybrid sales will boom, as more makers copy Toyota. Soon we will see new ‘plug-in’ petrol-electric hybrids (allowing vehicles such as the Prius to run on electric power for more of the time), many new ‘pure’ electric city cars that run on mains-charged batteries only (Renault promises four by 2012) and GM’s ‘extended range’ Ampera.
Gherardo Corsini, GM’s director of Electric Vehicle Implementation, says they wanted a vehicle that “isn’t very different from what people are already used to. It is a normal five-seat car, which can be the main car in the family. You fill it with petrol, just like a normal car. It is very easy to plug-in and recharge, like your laptop or mobile phone.” Depending on government incentives, GM is also hoping to price it like a normal car: at about Astra levels.
Unlike most electric vehicles that run on mains-electricity power only, the Ampera can double as a long-distance car. So it’s an electric car with the flexibility and versatility of a normal petrol vehicle.
The Prius was step one. The Ampera is likely to be the next important bridge to the long-term electrification of the automobile. Having once ‘killed’ the electric car, GM may now turn out to be its saviour.
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