More Electric Cars to the Crusher

KTLA news (LA) tonight had a piece on the Nissan EV cars that were on lease to Pasadena that are scheduled to go to EV heaven like the GM models. The cars have been leased to Pasadena for Municipal duties and the leases have expired. Pasadena tried to buy them outright acccording to the news item, but were refused, like the original GM deal, lease only. 330 cars are scheduled to be crushed (not clear whether or not they were all leased to Pasadena). They are the Hypermini, appear to be right hand drive, and look kinda like the Smart car, very upright, 2 seats. The reporter said they will go 60 mph, but aren't designed for freeway use. I just wonder, why crush them? Nissan apparantly is afraid of product liability, and the lack of replacement parts. I would think donations to universities, government agencies, or even just people who need wheels for local transportation would make more sense. I'm no EV crusader, but articles like this make me mad, and I have to wonder, why not crush a few SUVs and let the Electric cars do their thing until they become too hard to fix.? I'm sure lots of EV tinkerers out there would jump at the chance to study them and would find a way to keep them running, long after the last SUV bites the dust.