The Electric Car

Last night we watched a documentary about the demise of GM's electric car, the EV1, in California. It made me very angry, and proved once again how much power big business, and the oil companies in particular, can bring into play when they feel threatened. For those who are not aware of what happened, here is a brief summary.
In 1990 the California government passed a law which required two percent of all new cars sold in the state to be electric by 1998 and ten percent by 2003. GM produced about 1000 EV1s but then claimed that there was no demand and stopped making them. It seems from the documentary that in fact the public either did want the car or were not aware of its existence and that GM, together with the oil companies, deliberately sabotaged its own sales programme. They saw the car as a threat to the existing market, in particular the spares and servicing aspect, andd of course to oil profits. As an example of the dirty tricks employed, certain environmental groups opposed the setting up of recharging stations for electric vehicles - but on closer examination it turned out that these were groups funded and supported by oil companies.
In the end, California was forced into changing its laws and GM - and other companies - began reclaiming and destroying electric vehicles.
This is an absolute disgrace and the management of GM responsible for this should be locked up. Today the company is in deep financial trouble and is receiving funding from the US Government just to stay alive. Perhaps had they continued with the electric car this would not have been so necessary. For them to claim there was no demand is nonsense - advertisers create demand and had there been the will to do so, the car would almost certainly have been a success. In fact it was a success for those who had one - fast, quiet, zero emissions, low servicing costs (just rotate the tyres, fill the washer bottle and that's it ! No plugs, no oil change, no oil filter, no transmission or clutch to worry about - and the battery was good enough to last longer than the car !)
Except for the fact that so many people would lose their jobs, GM should be left to go bust. It would serve them right. Unfortunately a company is more than a corporate entity, there are good, hard-working, innocent people involved. Nationalization is the answer today - let the state run the company and let the tax-payer reap the profits - and punish those responsible for this disgraceful episode.