Fortune 500 company General Motors developed the EV1, released in 1996 as a modern mass-produced electric car.
The EV1 was General Motors’ battery-electric vehicle and was offered through leases in California and Arizona. It grew out of the company’s response to California’s zero-emission-vehicle requirements and was designed specifically as an electric car rather than converted from a gasoline model.
The first-generation EV1 used lead-acid batteries and had limited range, while later cars used nickel-metal hydride batteries. GM stopped producing the vehicle in 1999 and ended the leasing program in the early 2000s, reclaiming most of the cars. The decision became a major subject of debate about electric-vehicle policy and commercialization.
The EV1 is sometimes confused with the Toyota Prius, which debuted in Japan in 1997 as a hybrid rather than a fully electric car. It is also distinct from earlier experimental electric vehicles and from GM’s later Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid.