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Bit of revisionist history. The EV1 only came about because California was passing laws requiring ~2% of vehicles sold in the state to be EV's by 1997. A regu

Bit of revisionist history. The EV1 only came about because California was passing laws requiring ~2% of vehicles sold in the state to be EV's by 1997. A regulation which GM campaigned against and then sold their interest in the battery technology to an oil company once they got it scuttled. The oil company proceeded to prohibit NiMH battery technology's use in vehicles through patent licensing and enforcement. Tesla was only possible because Lithium Ion battery technology came along and supplanted NiMH. They also weren't motivated by government regulation so much as the desire of the founders to make it work. In 5 years I would be willing to bet GM goes the way of every other company who killed newer technology in order to extend the market for their incumbent products. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1 [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_encumbrance_of_large_automotive_NiMH_batteries#Chevron_and_Cobasys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_encumbrance_of_large_au...

csours 6y ago
Imagine I said: "There would be no iPhone (at least as we know it) without the Blackberry". I guess that could sound like I was minimizing the iPhone. I didn't mean it that way, but if you don't want to give me the benefit of the doubt, ok. I was only trying to talk about the marketplace, perhaps I should have used more generic terms. As for the regulatory stuff, it is fair to judge a corporation by outcomes, just remember the employees have their own opinions and viewpoint. As for what happens in 5 years, we'll see. If gas stays super cheap (it won't) and regulations are removed (they won't be) and EVs stop being more fun than ICE (they won't), then maybe GM will go back to ICE only. Feel free to be skeptical, but I think a lot of people at GM are excited about EVs. All of the above is my own opinion only. --- Below is a statement from my company: "As General Motors continues to drive toward an all-electric future, we’re also ensuring that the charging infrastructure can keep up. To that end, we recently announced a collaboration with EVgo, ChargePoint and Greenlots to establish the largest collective EV-charging network in the United States with access to more than 31,000 charging ports." https://www.gm.com/our-stories/technology/gm-technology-paves-the-way-for-an-all-electric-future.html https://www.gm.com/our-stories/technology/gm-technology-pave...
- pmorici 6y ago
  Point is that GM leadership did things to inhibit the development of EV's even though they were the first company to develop one. (Blackberry didn't try and kill smart phones they were the MySpace to Apple's Facebook) When you have that kind of culture in the leadership team it's not fixable. To this day GM continues to announce electric products which they delay or cancel before they come to market (ie: Cadillac Lyriq) and it seems the only reason they have the Bolt at all is to avoid having to buy regulatory credits from Tesla. They also seem to miss the point of why Tesla is successful. Most of the people that buy Tesla's don't do so because they care about the environment. They do it because it is a really great car, that just happens to be electric.

csours 6y ago

Imagine I said: "There would be no iPhone (at least as we know it) without the Blackberry". I guess that could sound like I was minimizing the iPhone. I didn't mean it that way, but if you don't want to give me the benefit of the doubt, ok. I was only trying to talk about the marketplace, perhaps I should have used more generic terms. As for the regulatory stuff, it is fair to judge a corporation by outcomes, just remember the employees have their own opinions and viewpoint. As for what happens in 5 years, we'll see. If gas stays super cheap (it won't) and regulations are removed (they won't be) and EVs stop being more fun than ICE (they won't), then maybe GM will go back to ICE only. Feel free to be skeptical, but I think a lot of people at GM are excited about EVs. All of the above is my own opinion only. --- Below is a statement from my company: "As General Motors continues to drive toward an all-electric future, we’re also ensuring that the charging infrastructure can keep up. To that end, we recently announced a collaboration with EVgo, ChargePoint and Greenlots to establish the largest collective EV-charging network in the United States with access to more than 31,000 charging ports." https://www.gm.com/our-stories/technology/gm-technology-paves-the-way-for-an-all-electric-future.html https://www.gm.com/our-stories/technology/gm-technology-pave...

pmorici 6y ago
Point is that GM leadership did things to inhibit the development of EV's even though they were the first company to develop one. (Blackberry didn't try and kill smart phones they were the MySpace to Apple's Facebook) When you have that kind of culture in the leadership team it's not fixable. To this day GM continues to announce electric products which they delay or cancel before they come to market (ie: Cadillac Lyriq) and it seems the only reason they have the Bolt at all is to avoid having to buy regulatory credits from Tesla. They also seem to miss the point of why Tesla is successful. Most of the people that buy Tesla's don't do so because they care about the environment. They do it because it is a really great car, that just happens to be electric.