cruising in an ev-1

The EV-1 is a pretty phenomenal car given that it runs completely on electricity and can go from 0-60mph in less than 9 seconds. Apparently GM discontinued production of the EV-1 and you can't buy them any longer.



One of my coworkers has an EV-1 that he let me take around town today. I used to laugh at electric cars and thought that they were suped up golf carts. Not anymore.

The EV-1 acclerated quickly on the freeway, handled turns rather well (it has a low center of gravity), and was quite fun to drive. It also made cool noises like the monarail at disneyland--a very slow hum that got louder as you went faster.

The controls inside the car also looked like the console of a 757 jumbo jet. There were lots of buttons on it; unlocking the car and starting the ignition involved punching in a series of codes on a keypad (sort of like starting up the countdown timer of a nuclear weapon). I found it particularly fun to press a button on the console and have it do random things--like start the air conditioner or lower the windows.



The EV-1 does have a downside--each charge only lasts about 100 mi. It also takes 10-14 hrs. to charge if you plug it into a normal 110V outlet, (or 2-3 hrs if you plug it into a special 240V charging station) so it's not something you want to drive across the country.

Nonetheless, if I had $40k to spare, I would consider buying one (that is, if GM was still selling them...sigh).