I just finished listening to "Who Killed the Electric Car?" documentary. I think it's a mixture of both: - It's obvious that the car companies did not want to build EVs. That's why they sued California in order to eliminate the ZEV mandate. - It's also obvious fuel companies purchased the NiMH factory from GM and then deep-sized it. On the other hand - I doubt the EV1 would have been a successful car. Yes a "lot" of people wanted it. About as many as wanted the original insight (only 20,000 sold). That is not enough to be a profitable car, which is why Honda discontinued the insight. 2 seats. Not much room. Same flaws as the EV1. - Look at the Nissan Leaf electric car. They've made tons of them, and now they just languish in dealer lots, with major markdowns. They are FAR better than the EV1 ever was: Four seats... modern lithium batteries... trunk space... looks like a normal hatchback car. And yet the Leaf still barely sells. (The EV1 would have languished just like the Leaf does.) I think even if GM had continued making the EV1, it would have eventually sold 20-30,000 units during the early 2000s, and that's about it. It would have had the same (lack of) appeal as the 2-seat insight.
