Old Top Gear - GM EV1

Quentin Willson goes to California to drive the all electric EV1 from General Motors. Top Gear, 1997
Copyright: BBC Worldwide

[@blazeelvirafirehoof7844]

this one guy around 3:40 saying "couple of more years and it'll probably be fashionable to drive these" had no clue just how right he was.

[@mattwolf7698]

He was right but about the Tesla Model S.

[@matthiasknutzen6061]

Took more than a couple of years though. But had GM continued developing this rich people might have had these as their city car.

[@Passionatemoviebuff]

So basically, fast forward a couple of decades...

[@pb5x5]

Think how good electric card would be now if they had been developed from this onwards. Now they are being rushed out over over much less time.

[@milfordcivic6755]

bet gm is kicking themselves for killing it

[@markscribner8573]

They already did, in the pants ;) www.wired.com/2016/09/chevrolet-bolt-range-epa-rating/

[@alexsaab8089]

Ima fan Yeah the oil companies payout probably doesn't look as good since everyone's moving toward electric

[@strongmentalitydude3553]

Fucking capitalist sons of bitches

[@markplott4820]

Ima fan - GM also killed the Street Car and Electric rail in America.

[@04dram04]

Naw it was to ahead of its time. Probably wouldnt have sold well

[@florisrodermond9025]

All these lucky people that are blessed with experiencing the EV1

[@elijahhmarshall]

Test drive a Tesla

[@peter-radiantpipes2800]

I remember seeing them at dealerships and on the road. The range was just awful of course and most people weren’t interested. Only the rich wanting virtue signaling had them. Then they crushed them all. Yeah that’s good for the environment. Lol

[@Frank71]

They were the true EV enthusiasts.

[@krampp24]

I was on of the greatful ones who got to experience one when i was 6

[@Catbert814]

2020 Cellphones are once again the size of bricks and cost over $1000

[@AJ6spd]

Exactly lol

[@mirelurk-fish7387]

You can thank John legerd and Verizon for screwing the whole cell phone industry and fucking us over

[@paulpark1170]

but have the power of a supercomputer on your hands. Big difference

[@matthiasknutzen6061]

No they have the surface of the large side of a brick

[@MiguelRodriguez-nt5eq]

@@paulpark1170 More like a corporate Government tracker..

[@MaartenvanRossemLezingen]

"The days of internal combustion engines, are definitely, numbered." Turns out the oil industry wouldn't let us have it that easily. However now with Tesla and more and more concepts popping up I think we can finally start developing better and better technology. Sadly that took almost 20 years.

[@TommyboyGTP]

As long as oil can be extracted at an affordable price, you won't see EV vehicles surpassing ICE vehicles anytime soon.

[@hajjdawood]

The oil indurstry? Why should we get upset at the oil industry, because they have a superior product? Even still to this day gasoline and especially diesel contains much more energy given a volume. One can also refill that energy in mere minutes, and take it with them wherever they go. My F150 with its 36 gallon tank can go 700-900 miles before needing to be filled up, and filling up takes a few minutes tops. Batteries are still grossly expensive (far more than even a full engine replacement) and start to go bad around 5-8 years, whereas some engines are still working great 20+ years later. Im not ragging on electric, in fact I owned the Chevy Volt for a few years, but it is delusional to think the "big bad evil oil companies" are what are stopping electric cars, verses them simply being impractical and expensive.

[@jmkhenka]

the real problem is oil. Oil represents the closest thing we have to free energy. Without it, we would not have 2 billion cars on the roads. More and more vehicles will become EV as the oil prices go up due to availability. Its difficult to compete with a expensive (say tesla) vehicle with a cheap affordable alternative like a gas car, esp with the improvements they have managed with euro6 etc.

[@gwizz7804]

I'd like to agree with you but your voice gives me the creeps

[@TheObsessedGardener]

@@TommyboyGTP Well, any individual who commutes the average distance would benefit from cheap electricity and pain free ownership. We got rid of our gas burners for a mitsubishi electric and wouldnt consider anything else. We made the last repayment early this year and very rarely even pay for electricity. Thankfully we have a solar building that's a part of our local university with access to a free fast charger. No emissions and no cost to the consumer. Win-win.

[@firehawk641]

I feel like i just watched a Tesla review from 15 years ago... good thing Tesla achieved a better range and didn't meet the same end as the EV1.

[@originalpadoru]

Hashna Fennec this is super high range for a car like this, most evs have this today, I’m not even joking some have 70 miles range whilst the ev1 has 80 miles

[@originalpadoru]

Apologies I meant 120 miles

[@JDMHaze]

BAD!! This car had so much promise it was ridiculous, especially considering its performance for the time was beyond exceptional they were basically the Tesla up today back then, but even more ahead of their time

[@JackoBanon1]

Back then there were no Lithium-Ion-Batteries yet and that explains, why the concept wasn't promesing for GM. The EV1 with todays batteries would have a Tesla like range or even more than that.

[@Borathi5]

Car wow brought me here

[@CortinasAndClassics]

The first case of range anxiety lol

[@gabrieldufresne182]

Anyone esle here because of Doug DeMuro?

[@gonzalooliveraalves]

Yeah! We all want to know how does that pedestrian horn sounds like 😂

[@Tahakamee]

Me

[@kostea87]

haha exactly

[@chrismichael1161]

Awesome! Me too, just went down the EV1 rabbit hole

[@AaronGGAMING]

Same

[@Alanphuphalee]

$600 per month in 1997. Wow

[@thelining4078]

1997: the days of the petrol engine are numbered 2019: the days of the petrol engine are numbered 2041: ?

[@FAT8893]

It won't be numbered. Car manufacturers are now making much more energy efficient engines than before.

[@unknownentity742]

2041: the days of petrol engines are over. That’s exciting.

[@bangerbangerbro]

@@unknownentity742 Should have been over by the 80s really. yeah the battery technology wasn't there you might say but it would have been if they'd been developing batteries consistently ever since they were invented.

[@CYCLEGAMER1]

No one You know Facts!!!

[@user-gc1hg9sp9k]

it's over now, if usa and europe car manufacture not quicky change their engine to ev from now. they will losing by china electric vehicle company right now BYD ( china ev brand) are supplying the US with their electric bus

[@IanTaylorTravels]

Oh Quintin, if only you were right at the end there. Loved the music from Psycho btw!

[@Sanyey]

Im trying to imagine how my current B car was already a 5yr old car, and my hobbycar was 6 at the time of this report XDD and they are still both running, and in pristine condition :D (2.0 8v Kadett GSi cabrio 1991, and a daily runner 1992 1.4 8v Astra F hachback)

[@ZedAlfa.]

Electrics finally made it to the market. Not just Tesla, but more affordable ones as well. The Nissan Leaf, Zap car etc. and not to mention all the enthusiasts that convert their own cars to pure battery electric.

[@akzebraminer5679]

Dino Di Lucido Tesla is making affordable cars too... but you have to reserve it right now

[@bandombeviews6035]

Dino Di Lucido They were nearly 100 years ago.

[@markplott4820]

Dino Di Lucido - the All Electric Honda Insight was on the market for over a Decade.

[@JackoBanon1]

After all these years I became the proud owner of a Model 3 Performance and oh boy, I will never go back to gasoline engines.

[@sh-ig9fm]

The reason why electric cars didn't succeed back then was because of the negative remarks like what he keeps saying in this video If the media wasn't so negative then the electric car would have been more successful It's the same reason why the British car industry failed

[@justinjohnson1766]

1:54 for everyone out there, that vehicle is powerful enough to be in any fast lane on this planet so, you know.

[@AlainHubert]

The oil industry did not allow this to happen back then. But today the electric car might actually have a chance...

[@InternetDude]

AlainHubert um have you heard of Tesla?

[@JDMHaze]

yess gm was ahead of their time

[@BigEightiesNewWave]

4:35 NOW THE HOMELESS WILL ATTACK HIM TOO.

[@jacksonbangs6603]

This guy needs to come to the future and drive a Tesla Modle 3 electric car. Weird watching videos from not that distant of a past.

[@ramblerandy2397]

He has his own small part-time YT channel, where he basically road tests EVs now. I believe he owns a Model 3.

[@irocjared]

3:00 oh hey I drive past that place everyday in gta.

[@bangerbangerbro]

GM should start making these again with updated powertrains. I'm sure people would buy them.

[@Simon-wn2id]

They did in a sense, because what they learned from the EV1 they put into the Volt/Ampera and also the Bolt.

[@bangerbangerbro]

@@Simon-wn2id I suppose.

[@matthewgodwin3050]

@@Simon-wn2id I don't remember EV1 having half the problems that Volt, Ampera or Bolt have experienced. I certainly don't remember any of them catching fire. Personally, I think EV1 was a better engineered car, and it's range wasn't too far behind some of today's models. Mini E, and Renault Zoe, for instance. If GM had held it's nerve and kept up production and development of EV1, they would be king of the hill today, and Elon Musk would be nowhere.

[@janred94]

Nearly 10.000 days later we are almost there! 😅

[@tommoger]

Nope, we’ve been there for some years now.

[@TheSeanUhTron]

With the majority of car manufacturers developing and selling PHEV's, I think we're finally getting to see the beginning of mass market adoption of EV's. Though manufacturers will have to start finding somewhere else to place the battery pack. Most of them are shoving them into the trunk of the car which drastically reduces the cargo capacity. BEV's are still rather niche market, but still seeing growth.

[@cg986]

Smart guy ;)

[@ObiePaddles]

PHEVs are not EVs. They are part EVs

[@CynicalBastard511]

0:05 Volvo S70 with Swedish plates... In the USA... WTF?!

[@adorabasilwinterpock6035]

Some people bring their cars over when they move.

[@JDMHaze]

lmaoo

[@olive8604]

@@adorabasilwinterpock6035 And their plates, too? Didn't know that was legal.

[@SnowBunneh]

RCR brought me here :3

[@georgemacias436]

Karry Roberta C. Same

[@Jaggrawr]

What video did he mention EV1?

[@Omar-em7rl]

i would like to know as well, he never mentioned Electric Brown, just a bunch of WingaDinga.

[@grantlauzon5237]

It just took 10 more years.

[@jonathanjackson9208]

The gangs of la will not be cutting you into any pieces

[@MrCarguy2]

Jonathan Jackson Correct, they will be filling you with lead and holes

[@bigjd2k]

What would this be like with a lithium battery? Absolutely stonking!

[@wclifton968gameplaystutorials]

it would be a car that can go very far that's what it would be like with lithium battery cells assuming the use of 18650 LI-Ion cells

[@wclifton968gameplaystutorials]

@jerry calvert Solar can only take you so far and only when the sun is shining... I think the hybrid Lithium-Ion cells and solar cells on the SONO Motors Sion is a good example of this hybrid that'll work well...

[@matthewgodwin3050]

Lithium iron batteries are a dead end. Too damaging to the environment, too expensive to produce, too short lived, almost impossible to recycle, and far too fire prone.

[@SHOREHILLEYEWEAR]

GM should have listened to the people

[@Gunsforfreedom]

4 miles to spare. That's a happy day for us EV owners.

[@robwhitmore3040]

ColdFusion brought me here. Never knew this thing existed

[@albertopazsamano6878]

RIP ev1 😭😭😭😭😭

[@mattwolf7698]

3:40 He was right about electric cars being fashionable, just with the Model S instead of this.

[@jakeh3144]

If the brakes are electronic, do the brakes die when the battery dies?

[@atharvabansode7291]

can someone tell about that saxophone music in beginning?

[@tanelkullus]

The last words, haha

[@TheObsessedGardener]

The days of the ICE are definitely numbered as I sit in my Mitsubishi imiev watching KZbin while I'm fast charging.

[@unknownentity742]

No offence but your car is a piece of shit. I’m all for electric cars, but the imiev is an embarrassment:

[@bangerbangerbro]

@@unknownentity742 It's the first mass produced LI-ion car. It's only crap because its one of the first of the current (or just passed) wave of real mass-produced EVs. It predates the Leaf by a year and the Tesla model S by 3 years.

[@unknownentity742]

No one You know On the i-miev the range is shit. The design is shit. The leaf is a far better car and is worth waiting an extra year for.

[@bangerbangerbro]

@@unknownentity742 It's a conversion of another car. Yes the leaf is obviously better but I'm just saying it's one of the first so in terms of things like range you can't really complain.

[@TimLucasdesign]

SO depressing that over 20 years on and we're still driving gigantic V8's that get 17mpg :(

[@FAT8893]

I would. Heck, even McLaren V8 can do 30 mpg now. Lamborghini even have cylinder deactivation.

[@supersix-four9509]

My 89 C2500 5.7 liter gets 7 and i love every mile

[@Birdy606]

Lithium ion batteries have came a long way since this car was made...that probably would have made a huge difference if GM could have had those to work with...

[@filmsbnio]

"The days of petrol engine cars are numbered" Yes they are : 2035 in Europe

[@nm-conceptfilms]

Well he was kinda right with his last statement... But ahead of his time

[@RISCGames]

"This is governed because it's California..." should have been a early warning sign. Now look at them lol

[@N0T0NegativeNancy]

I bet if they did this in 2024 they would have kept it around

[@N0T0NegativeNancy]

I mean I would have one

[@KanishQQuotes]

A surprise considering gm top management likes to congratulate themselves with big bonuses while products suffer They created a new car company from scratch, saw success and they ran it to the ground. Same with ev1

[@joshbacon8241]

Imagine if he actually ran out of charge before he got to the garage...

[@afk1sec410]

@Rob James You can bring gas to your dead car but you have to bring a dead electric to outlet. It's not remotely comparable. You are dumb.

[@pozzo1979]

@@afk1sec410 If electric cars become mainstream, we will probably see portable battery packs that you could buy for those kinds of emergencies. Although they will certainly be much heavier than a portable gas container

[@bangerbangerbro]

@Rob James I don't think you have understood his comment correctly.

[@afk1sec410]

@Rob James Are you really so fucking stupid that you think the two are comparable? Every place that sells gas has containers for it. Also much easier to stop for gas before running out, which by the way is displayed to you so that you don't, than finding a charging station. And what do you suppose that generator is running on?

[@bangerbangerbro]

@Rob James He asks you to imagine if he actually couldn't get to his destination because of the car running out of energy. You responded as if he meant that as some sort of situation being used in an argument between EVs and ICEVs. As far as I can tell he literally just means "what would have happened to him specifically if he actually did get stuck?".

[@Saopabloberry]

3:00 Mario Almada.

[@RichardHowells1234]

Hemp💚 4 batteries and fuel ⛽️ yeh

[@alexsaab8089]

Oh yeah that ev1 really beat on that N/A S70 lol

[@somebody2934]

Bruh there is volvo with Swedish plate xd 0:04

[@electrictroy2010]

I knew a guy named Doug Wickstrom that worked at GM’s EV1 division. QUOTE: “The range of 130 miles is bogus. None of them ever achieved that under normal driving conditions. Running the air conditioning or heater could halve that range. Even running the headlights reduced it by 10%. “Minimum recharge time was two hours using special charging stations that (except for fleet use) didn't exist..... NiMH batteries that had lasted up to three years in testing were failing after 6 months in service. There was no way to keep them from overheating without doubling the size of the battery pack. Lead-acid batteries were superior to NiMH in actual daily use.” “You cannot turn batteries "off." This is the reason the vehicles were leased, rather than sold. As long as the terms of the lease prohibited maintenance by other than a Hughes technician, GM's liability in the event of a screw-up was much reduced. Technicians can encounter high voltages in hybrid vehicles. In the EV1, there were really high voltages present. “Lessees were complaining that their electric bills had increased to the point that they'd rather be using gasoline..... the car was a dream to drive, if you didn't mind being stranded between Bakersfield and Barstow on a hot July afternoon when a battery blew up from the combined heat of the day and the current draw.“

[@stevebirks2186]

Why is gm crushing these cars ?

[@FAT8893]

Probably because other companies might steal their ideas? Somehow, it reminds me of the Chrysler Turbine Car from 1955.

[@skoapiee]

'The EV1's discontinuation remains controversial, with electric car enthusiasts, environmental interest groups and former EV1 lessees accusing GM of self-sabotaging its electric car program to avoid potential losses in spare parts sales (sales forced by government regulations), while also blaming the oil industry for conspiring to keep electric cars off the road.[6] As a result of the forced repossession and destruction of the majority of EV1s, an intact and working EV1 is one of the rarest cars from the 1990s. '

[@stevebirks2186]

Loved the optimism back then - Everone looking forwards to the future-Then why is GM recalling them to be crushed ? - Then theres the Musk guy buliding Tesla e cars -This guy puts Eddison Above Tesla because he says eddison did more than Tesla for public -I think Musk should read his history books ?

[@QuantumBraced]

Top Gear is one of the most biased shows. They're entertaining, but 1/3rd of their shows are Land Rover commercials, another 20% is Toyota commercials, they're heavily prejudiced against electric cars... only watch them for entertainment, never for a serious review.

[@bilal00276]

QuantumBraced This was the old Top Gear which was cancelled due to it not being entertaining enough

[@alexsaab8089]

watch the Grand Tour instead

[@FAT8893]

..."heavily prejudiced against electric cars". Not much difference with the lads from The Grand Tour.

[@electrictroy2010]

This is the Original Top Gear (like original Star Trek). It was canceled. The New Top Gear started in 2002(?) and indeed the hosts were a bunch of comedians. The new show was funny. The original show (which you’re watching on youtube) was serious .

[@supersix-four9509]

@peter burry You can be informative and entertaining. 2002 Top gear was.

[@JDMHaze]

$600 a month!!!! in 1996/1997. !!??? sheesh thats bmw M3 money

[@Dev.n]

Who’s here from The JRE Podcast? Elon seemed a bit impressed with this lil thing.

[@cleovidrine8673]

These are.coming back when digital cash is implemented. Its gonna be awhile whan 5hey get the greenbacks. Retired that buys oil there still gonna use the greenbacks privately

[@BigShaneGillis]

No four wheel drive obviously lmao

[@guinnessharvey4476]

The car so good they crushed it cuz it was a threat to their combustion cars

[@mntsam1930]

Not true, it was merely a test ran by gm that turned out to not be profitable, therefore they killed it.

[@Alexs23743]

The EV-1. The greatest car there could've been, and the greatest disappointment there ever was. As it stands, this market is now dominated by the Japanese and some guy named Elon. D:

[@sziehr]

This is why I will never forgive GM, sure the EV1 was a bit hamstrung at the time, that time being 1996, and just 5 years latter Elon would go on to use 80% of the GM crushed tech in the roadster since GM used an outside engineering from AC propulsion. So yeah GM literally handed Elon Musk the entire RnD to get his powertrain started as throw away casue well insert your reason here there are whole movies about it...... The reality is GM should not be forgiven, had they made it a CA only lease car for just a few more years the age of lithium would have arrived and the EV 1 could have gone more mainstream quicker and charging would have spread like wild fire. So yeah GM effectively gave ICE 10 more years by shelving the EV1

[@Mannard74]

0:18 That's a sexy 2nd gen Probe SE! The black demographic will never buy that though.. unless it can have 20" wheels or bigger. Needs more chrome, too.

[@JDMHaze]

it almost replaced the mustang lol

[@Biskawow]

Koreans will win it all in the end. They make reasonably priced electric cars and batteries for all other brands. Smart Koreans, they already make smart phones and TVs for the whole world.

[@FAT8893]

Koreans (and Japanese) had even made hydrogen fuel cell electric cars as well. GM may had done it much earlier with the HyWire, but it's just a technical exercise.

[@jippyjester]

Yeah but it took Elon Musk with Tesla to bring us kicking and screaming to where we are now.....If it weren't for Tesla we would be years away from a sensible electric car and (more importantly) the infrastructure to support them

[@iPakistani]

This guy is a dude

[@JakobKsGarage]

I usually love Quentin Wilson as a presenter, but this was stupid and ignorant on a Jeremy Clarkson level!

[@JoshuaMilrad]

Sponsored by BP? SMH

[@bobbritches846]

This video plays like crap.

[@doffy2192]

N9

[@jamesholmes1235]

face it people electric cars are not a viable product. they cost to much. they do not help the environment. you still have to burn coal to charge them. batteries are heavy and very expensive and bad for the environment. payload is small families cannot ride in most of the ones on the market. i do realize there are some out there that are suv's and trucks but they are very expensive. the average family cannot afford them. and its been that way from the start. lately people are consumed with the realization that electric cars have been around since the early 1900's but fail to recognize that the cars cost 4 times as much as a model T, so again i say to you it is a failed product and always will be.

[@mikesantos011]

I am sure people with horse and buggies were saying something similar when cars came out

[@jamesholmes1235]

@@mikesantos011 Stupid comparison it's irrelevant!!! We're not talking about carriages and we're not talkin about late 1800s early 1900s We're talking about today and the problems with electric cars that I referred to. You have not addressed one of the things that I pointed out. They are way too expensive and the suggested purpose for them to help with green gas emissions is a false narrative because it does no good. You still have to burn coal to produce the electricity to charge them and the lithium and nickel and all the ores that have to be taken out of the Earth to make the batteries by foreign countries and people putting their lives in danger... it doesn't balance out. There is no gain.

[@timparziale8762]

They would run great and be way faster with lithium batteries. But they destroyed them all