Today in History: Sunday, January 04, 2015 AP Highlight in History: Jan 4, 1996: GM announces its electric car Previous DayJanuary 4CalendarNext Day On this day in 1996, General Motors announces at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show it will build an electric car, dubbed the EV1, to be launched in the fall of that year. The EV1 wasnt an entirely new concept, as electric vehicles had been around since the auto industrys nascent days. In the early 20th century, the Columbia Runabout, which could travel 40 miles on a single electric charge at speeds of 15 mph, was a best-seller. As Time noted: Before her husband Henrys mass production of gas-powered cars crushed the electric industry, Clara Ford drove a 1914 Detroit Electric, which could last 80 miles without a charge. The oil crisis of the 1970s, coupled with a burgeoning environmental movement, led to renewed interest in electric vehicles, although no automaker was able to develop one that garnered mass appeal. When it debuted in 1996, the EV1 was made available to consumers in just two states, Arizona and California, and for lease-only, as GM considered the development of electric vehicle technology to be ongoing. During its years in production, from 1996 to 1999, around 2,500 EV1s were produced in total. In late 2003, the company announced it was pulling the plug on the EV1 program and wouldnt renew any leases. GM cited the high cost of producing and maintaining the vehicles as a reason for the EV1s demise. However, as The Los Angeles Times noted in 2009: The EV1 began in the 1990s as a response to a zero-emission vehicle mandate by Californias Air Resources Board....When, finally, GM and other automakers managed to get California to soften its zero-emission mandate in 2002, [GM CEO Rick] Wagoner promptly canceled the program. (During this time, other automakers introduced then discontinued their own electric vehicles, including Toyota, whose RAV4 EV was available from 1997 to 2003.) Environmental activists protested the end of the EV1, staging a mock funeral and later holding a vigil at a Los Angeles-area GM facility that had impounded a number of EV1s that would later be destroyed. By 2008, GM had been hit hard by a global economic crisis and slumping auto sales and needed a multi-billion-dollar bailout loan from the federal government in order to stay in business. In March 2009, company CEO Wagoner was ousted by the Obama administration and in April of that year, GM filed for bankruptcy. The company was criticized for continuing to focus on its sport-utility vehicles and small trucks despite a growing consumer demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. Wagoner was quoted as saying that pulling the plug on the EV1 and not putting more development resources toward hybrid gas-electric vehicles was a major mistake of his career. On Jan. 4, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson outlined the goals of his Great Society in his State of the Union address. Audio Link President Lyndon B. Johnson AP Photo On this date in: 1896 Utah was admitted to the Union as the 45th state. 1948 Britain granted independence to Burma. 1951 North Korean and Communist Chinese forces captured the city of Seoul during the Korean War. 1960 Nobel Prize-winning French author Albert Camus died in a car accident at age 46. 1965 Poet T.S. Eliot died at age 76. AP Photo 1974 President Richard Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee. 1995 The 104th Congress convened, the first entirely under Republican control since the Eisenhower era; Newt Gingrich was elected speaker of the House. 1999 Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as governor of Minnesota. 2004 Afghans approved a new constitution. 2006 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke and his powers were transferred to his deputy, Ehud Olmert. 2007 Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., became the first female speaker of the House. AP Photo/Susan Walsh 2010 Dubai opened the worlds tallest skyscraper, the 2,717-foot gleaming glass-and-metal tower Burj Khalifa
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 02:58:37 +0000
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