The General Motors EV1 has a fascinating story. In 1996, it became the first modern, mass-produced electric vehicle offered to the world. With 26 lead-acid batteries and a single electric motor making 137 horsepower, it wasn’t exactly quick by modern standards. But at the time, it was highly innovative—GM was way ahead of anyone else. This was years before Tesla came on the scene.
GM famously never sold any EV1s. They were all leased and taken back by the company to be crushed. At the time, people were distraught, holding vigils over the car’s destruction, with several celebrities in attendance. The EV1’s untimely demise even spawned a film, Who Killed The Electric Car?
While most of the EV1s built were sandwiched beyond recognition, GM saved about a handful of examples—around 40, according to this nifty tracking guide built by Hemmings—and donated them to museums and universities. This doesn’t appear to be any of those, but instead a mysterious and unaccounted-for one.
So how did this one end up as an abandoned vehicle in a tow impound lot?
Some Background On The EV1
The EV1 wasn’t just important because it was the first mass-produced modern electric car. It brought with it a heap of innovations we take for granted in today’s vehicles, like keyless ignition, low-rolling resistance tires, and regenerative braking. With a drag coefficient of just 0.19, it remains one of the slipperiest production vehicles to ever be offered to the public.
The little two-door coupe made big advances in battery tech, too. In the three years of EV1 production, the car received two iterations of battery redesign, the first being nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries, which doubled its range, and the second being even longer-range lithium-polymer packs. If GM had stuck with developing EVs instead of killing the program over low sales and high costs, who knows where it’d be now?
GM president Mark Reuss admitted that killing the EV1 was a mistake, stressing to InsideEVs in a recent interview what an important vehicle it was for the company:
I wasn’t around for EV1; I wasn’t in the company. But I think that might have been one example of something that we, the company, should not have done, which was canceling that; that was really quite a car.
So What’s Up With This EV1?
This brings us to the curious case of this mysterious EV1, a green-painted, early model from 1997. It’s currently up for auction through Peak Auto Auctions, an online auction site for unclaimed and abandoned vehicles. It’s listed by A-Tow Inc., a tow pound located in Atlanta, with suspiciously little info.
The car is incorrectly listed as a “GMC ELECTRIC VEHICLE,” and doesn’t come with a key. Both the Runs and the Drives sections are marked as “UNKNOWN,” though considering the condition shown in the pictures, I doubt this thing has moved under its power for a long, long time.
The photos tell a fascinating story. The car looks mostly complete, with all of its body panels and interior bits intact. But it also looks like it’s been sitting outside for an extended period of time, and the left side of the window is smashed in. There’s a garbage bag shrouding the driver’s side A-pillar, and a collection of debris, including what looks to be shattered glass, on the driver’s seat.
Wait, How The Hell Is This Being Sold?
Those familiar with the EV1’s history will probably be wondering how this one ended up in a tow pound lot. GM never officially sold the car, and the examples that still exist are all housed in museums or university collections (aside from iconic movie director Francis Ford Coppola’s EV1, which he reportedly obtained mysteriously after his personal car was taken back by GM).
As it turns out, this one was likely a forgotten piece of history at a university. A representative for the tow pound told me over the phone that this vehicle was marked as abandoned by the Clark Atlanta University Public Safety agency, which is likely how it ended up at this lot.
I called a bunch of people at the school, and most didn’t answer. Only one person, Ravena Lottie-Baskerville, director of the school’s dual-degree engineering program, had heard about it, but described the car’s existence as an “urban legend,” and didn’t have any other info to share. If I had to guess, the EV1 was likely just sitting somewhere on school grounds, untouched for long enough that officials, not knowing what it was, eventually decided to get rid of it.
Importantly, this auction is marked as a court order sale, which means the tow pound got permission from court officials to auction the car off, since no rightful owner or lien-holder has come to claim it (and pay any accrued storage or tow fees). Makes sense, since, technically, either the university or GM itself could be the only rightful owners. GM did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the car.
Who’s Going To Buy It?
Truth is, we here at The Autopian knew about this EV1 as early as yesterday afternoon. We decided as a team to keep it a secret, hoping it would go for incredibly cheap, so that we’d have an unbelievably rare, ultra-cool project car for this winter. At one point, we were even the high bidders (with a very brave bid of $900).
Of course, this EV1 didn’t stay a secret for long. As of this writing, the bidding is up to $31,500 with around three hours to go. Aside from being an ultra-rare collector car and an incredibly important part of automotive history, I can think of another reason why over 70 bids have been placed on this thing: It’s YouTube project car gold.
Resurrecting a forbidden vehicle like the EV1 is textbook-perfect fodder for a YouTube thumbnail. Jared Pink of The Questionable Garage channel confirmed to me his interest in the car.
“I’ve seen the EV1 and have been very closely considering jumping in at the end but I have not yet made a bid,” he told me. “I’ve got its cousin, the electric S10, so it would be a good garage mate, but I’m hoping one of the more obscure car channels grab this one!”
While it might be nice to see a small channel launch its way into the mainstream with the EV1, the big dogs are aware of the car as well.
“I’ve heard of it,” Freddy “Tavarish” Hernandez told me over the phone. “I’ve heard kind of sprinklings that there was one for sale.”
“I saw Rich Rebuilds post about it,” he continued. “So, I just sent him a message because he’s an EV guy. And I said, “Whatever I can do to help you get it, I’d love to be a part of that.’ I think it’d be kind of cool.”
Rich Benoit, the man behind Rich Rebuilds, feels like the most suitable candidate. His channel, which currently has over 1.6 million subscribers, centers around fixing broken EVs like Teslas, Fiskers, and more.
“I’ve been talking with Rich and Robert Dunn (Aging Wheels), but it’s more of an observation perspective. Since it’s not a big auction site, it is kind of tricky,” Pink added.
John Ross from the WatchJRGo channel is another YouTuber who expressed interest.
“I was [bidding], but I tapped out when it went over $17,000,” Ross told me. “The EV1 has always been a hero car to me, and I’ve wanted one on the channel from the start, but the auction has really taken off. Never thought it would come close to $30,000.”
When asked whether he thought other YouTubers would be bidding, Ross told me he assumed they were, and even mentioned Benoit as a potential buyer. Benoit acknowledged the auction in an email to me, but confirmed to me he wouldn’t be participating.
Registering such a car for the road will likely be very tough—the tow lot says derelict cars like this EV1 are sold as parts only. And good luck getting GM to cut you a new key, should you get it fit enough to run. Still, there are ways.
“You can just probably make it a self-built vehicle,” says Hernandez. “So kind of look at a like a kit car or whatever. It’s also a vehicle that’s for the nerds and the geeks. For most people, they’re like, ‘Okay, well, it’s like some old electric car.’ No, like, this is the old electric car.”
Will GM Try To Take It Back?
General Motors declined to comment when reached about the car. The company never intended for these EV1s to fall into private hands, so it’d make sense for it to be upset over this sale. It’s also possible that all of the relevant parties at GM have stopped caring about the EV1—remember, these donations to universities happened 25 years ago. As advanced as it was in the ’90s, the EV1 is ancient tech by now, so it’s not like the car is hiding any secrets.
The only precedent I could find concerning GM’s attitude on EV1s in the wild dates back to 2019, when a red EV1, reportedly owned by Morehouse University in Atlanta, was discovered abandoned in a parking garage. The car was eventually removed from the garage, with Hemmings hearing from some sources that it was GM itself that retrieved the vehicle.
At this point, it’s probably pretty tough for GM to obtain legal ownership of this EV1. I’m sure there are a few ways, but it probably wouldn’t be as simple as it was a quarter-century ago.
I sincerely hope that whoever obtains this EV1 from the tow pound doesn’t keep it away from the public eye. So many of these cars have either been destroyed or stuffed into basement collections, never to be seen again. Now, there’s an opportunity to give an EV1 the attention it deserves.
[Update: The EV1 ended up selling for $104,000 before fees, which is either far too much or far too little, depending on how important GM’s electric vehicle history is to you. To whoever just dropped six figures on this non-running, non-titled relic, I commend you. -BS]
Top photo: Source: A-Tow / Peak Auto Auctions and GM
At first, that $104,000 is outlandish. Then again, where will you find another one?
I’ve got another banger; Whoever said EVs old depreciate like bricks, well whadya think of this?
Ironically this is probably close to the actual per-unit cost to GM (in late 20th century dollars – probably ~250k in today’s dollars), despite the leases being based on an MSRP in the mid-30k range. I do think that this will be worth way more than $100k to someone out there.
There’s one still sitting at Ohio State (at least there was in 2019 when I last visited their Center for Automotive Research (CAR)).
There’s also one in DC that’s still there afaik. I plan on making a trip out there to see it in person.
$104K. The mind boggles.
I’m still confused about the mythical “third year” EV1 that had li-po batteries mentioned here and also in a previous Autopian article.
Everything I’ve read said that li-po batteries were originally on the development roadmap, but they were cancelled and never made it into production.
I’ve been to the A-Tow yard. Whoever is going to retrieve it had better bring some security. It’s not a great place to be.
That’ll just make for more youtube content!
Man, just to quote them some new computers and upgraded wifi we had to be met with armed guards.
The features list includes “hydraulic front disc brakes”. GM must have been proud of that (ahem) cutting-edge technology.
They buyer will have a bit of a challenge finding a new windshield, unless GM used the same solar windshield in other cars as well.
On a much more positive note, GM has made a desirable car that greatly appreciates in value.
They should learn from this: make exactly one example of every car.
Leno for sure.
It’s a shame it went down this way and likely gotten GM’s attention (still unclear if they care or not). Had it sold for a few hundred or few thousand, no one would have noticed and the new owner wouldn’t have any headaches (aside from owning this car).
I’m very curious to what happened with the auction. Lot #8 (the EV1) is no longer shown on the A-Tow auction website. Why? Did GM flex their muscles and politely remind the auction yard that no one outside of a university could “own” one of these? Was the auction yard thinking the bidders or bidding were fake so they removed the listing altogether? Was Beau the mysterious winner that decided he was going to add this to the Autopian/his personal fleet and got the evidence removed from the interwebs?
Inquiring minds want to know!!! Where’s our follow up, Brian???!!!
I have a feeling a lot of GM brass during the time of these being snatched back and crushed are probably retired… But I’m not surprised if GM doesn’t want anything to do with whomever bought this and tries to sue to retrieve it and destroy.
Does this actually count as a true “holy grail”, since it is the only one in public hands?
Priceless and worthless all at the same time. I sure hope we get to see what happens to this one; getting that high-tech interior to work should be a fun challenge.
Transplant a Bolt drivetrain or what do we think? I literally don’t know a single thing about any EVs, so don’t kill me if one of these is FWD and the other RWD.
That’s not why they didn’t sell it. They certainly don’t want someone buying, driving it, crashing it, and getting hurt. That’s a legal issue.
and a brand one: they’d like to avoid headlines like “EV1 fire shuts down highway.”
With a belly full of NiCad batteries, it wouldn’t be as bad as a lithium battery fire. Nicads are the most hardy & safe batteries around
If anyone can get it ship-shape it’s Leno. Amazing what one can do with desire, will and (near) unlimited funds.
It might be listed as “GMC” because “GM” isn’t a stand-alone brand and doesn’t appear on drop down lists. Ran into the same problem when I tried to see if kbb would spit out a value. We agree the condition is “Fair,” right?
The car was definitely branded as a GM when leased new. The first three characters of the VIN (known as the World Manufacturer Identifier [WMI]) are 4G5, which identifies the car as a “General Motors” per the NHTSA.
When I got the EV-1 added to NAPA’s electronic cataloging, they did add General Motors as a make. The parts we list for it are essentially universal (coolant, A/C flush) but you’ll note we’ve cataloged wiper refills. Older Trico catalogs had full blade replacements cataloged so not sure what happened to them. A couple decades ago I also ran across one paper catalog (I forget the brand but it wasn’t through NAPA) that had rear brake shoes listed for the EV-1.
I should have been more clear. I know the EV1 was branded as GM. I was trying to say there aren’t really any other “GM” cars, at least that I can think of, so it’s not going to come up as an option on sites like ebay motors, kbb, and whatever software is running the auction site. I can see why, in that situation, they’d figure “GMC” is close enough.
I remember reading about your mission. I don’t remember if it was in the original article, but the fact that you got the EV-1 in there (a car that was, until a few days ago, believed to be un-ownable) is incredible. Thank you for doing the Lord’s work.
If GM had stuck with developing EVs instead of killing the program over low sales and high costs, who knows where it’d be now?
Well priorities are priorities and hard decisions were made, I mean gas prices dropped and the Supersized SUVs weren’t going to make themselves..
Very, very silly people. GM really had no choice; they couldn’t possibly support that thing.
I sort of get it. At the time it felt like the long awaited EV revolution. When GM decided to cube them, and with no other automaker with anything serious on the horizon, it probably felt like the one and only shot (at the time) was over.
Why not?
Yes, GM was a very small company back then, and couldn’t afford to waste money on exploring new technology and developing a long-term advantage over other automakers.
I think there were five generations of the Chrysler Turbine car before they gave up on it. The last one was a 1981 Dodge Mirada, almost a contemporary of the EV1.
Late to this but for the record, yes, “couldn’t” is doing some heavy lifting in my comment, but it would have been impractical for GM to have continued providing parts support to a very limited-run vehicle. And yes, the reaction to that decision to take the vehicles out of service was, in retrospect, over-the-top.
I consider myself as militantly pro-environment as most, but I can see why this all unfolded as it did, is all I’m saying.
Obviously, I wish that GM had continued to develop EVs rather than giving up as quickly as they did. I wish the other automakers would’ve been spurred on to emulate what the biggest and baddest was up to. But I can see why they didn’t, with 20/20 hindsight.
We may have the benefit of hindsight, but a lot of people knew it was a stupid decision back then, too.
I wouldn’t be surprised if someone like Jay Leno bought it. There are enough of the S10 electric trucks around for most of the known YouTubers that want an ev1 to get one. I’ve heard rumors of a few government owned ev1s from GSA guys Atlanta wouldn’t be the strangest place something like that would turn up.
I’ve been reading too much about the late-90s era of electric cars lately. The EV1 is especially interesting, as an electric-native platform rather than a conversion.
It’s not about “Who Killed the Electric Car?” as much, since electric cars have been quite “alive” for a long time now.
Instead, they represent a “dead” approach to technology in general.
They’re sort of the Pebble smartwatch compared to a modern car’s Apple/Google watch…and I really like my Pebble 2.
Just checking email on my Blackberry.
It has an actual keyboard. What a concept!
The Google G1 was peak smartphone.. fight me!
That was my first smartphone after a Crackberry and I still miss it.
HTC made such good devices back then, in fact I charged up and booted my HTC Aria, not more than a few years ago and darn if it wasn’t just as easy to use and as good as I remembered. Now I have this Samsung monstrosity that is so wide I can’t even type on it with one hand
If you miss the chiclet clicky, check out the Unihertz Titan series.
Yes but you have to put up with filthy Android. No deal.
Sigh. I miss my HT. Desire Z very much… :/
I’m still clinging to my 13 mini but if I went larger/newer I’d go for that Clicks keyboard to try.
But do I miss my Palm Pre.
and Lumia 920, and my BlackBerry Priv as well as the Q10 (ran into a guy in LA using one on T-Mo actually a couple-to-few years back)
Heck, Apple’s predictive text/autocorrect decline over the years has me pining for both the BlackBerry Android keyboard or my Windows Phone 8.1 keyboard.
Sure not killed, but while the “burning” of the library of Alexandria didn’t
“kill” intellectualism, it did set it back. What could have happened with GM development in 10 years? I say ten because in 2008 we got a “real” EV with the Tesla Roadster. 17 years later there’s loads to choose from, and a decent infrastructure. Of course now the Regime is basically “killing” US technological development the same way GM did the EV1, moving to the clearly superior, never ending, and clean fossil fuel..
Absolutely, it was a disaster, as are the many developments directly or indirectly halted by our present circumstances.
The US-based Sodium-ion battery company Natron Energy shut down in September. That’ll be a problem.
The biggest reason to focus on the EV1 era of electric cars was as an example of electric vehicles’ potential as something that should be pursued again.
Electric cars came back, so that part of the EV1 is, at least, no longer a “present” issue.
My fixation at the moment is more related to the two most expensive vowels in the English language (the ones that aren’t EOUY), since everyone has decided they should be an unavoidable problem.
The EV1 is now an example of an approach to technology that was abandoned, and something we’re told won’t come back.
It was just an electric car. Modern technology that respected the user, that wasn’t fighting for Attention and Interaction.
It represents a “static machine”, instead of a “connected device”. I think that’s an idea that needs to be defended and revived now as much as the electric car needed it back then.
I have a Pebble 2 Duo on order, I’m behind the curve as usual.
I ultimately decided to move on from wearables entirely but there’s a Pebble revival in motion currently – not sure what inventory from future batches looks like but if you want a new one and don’t mind the big tariff question mark it (mostly) exists! (plus new Pebble apps out I believe)
Yeah, that windshield is definitely not in my GM Global EPC parts catalog, so that’s gonna have to be made…
The last time I overpaid for an EV it was to Niantic.
Way too rich for my blood.
Have we had a Fast & Furious sequel featuring a bunch of nerds pulling off a car heist?
My jaw dropped when I read the update. It was so close to being part of the Autopian fleet.
Now we need a followup article on the person who won the auction and what they plan on doing with it.
My money is on an LS swap
I hope they restomod in the EV sense… in that give it modern batteries and other modern enhancements so it’s just an enhanced version of what it originally was.
Watch it be someone like Elon Musk or another EV maker. Would be cool to see some company reimagine this car.
Hide your kids, hide your wife?! More like hide your EV1! Because parts demand just went up!
I truly believe that if General Motors had not screwed the pooch and continued to develop the EV past the EV1 we would all most likely be driving EV’s now.
Lithium-ion batteries are not computer chips. It’s not like you can continuously cram in more kWhs into the same box until you get 100 kWh worth of batteries the size of your palm.
Tesla put 80 kWh packs in the Model S 10+ years ago. Most EVs still come with around 80 kWh. Computer chips in that same period went from 22nm to 3nm.
True. But said 80 kWh batteries now live in “compact” cars such as a CLA, charge at 300 – 400 kW easily and have become more ubiquitous and affordable.
Why is it still pending! Who paied 104k, and are they regretting life right now??
Jesus CHRIST! Who pays over a hundred grand for something like this?!?!?!?!
Forget the mechanicals, where do you even find the GLASS?
It’s such a massive piece of automotive history and is probably impossible to ever replicate, so at 104k it seems absurd, but everything can likely be replicated or repaired, even if at great expense. It’s a lot, but to a collector of important vehicles, it’s likely not more than a drop in the bucket.
Oh, I get it…..I’m just spouting off in pure disbelief, that’s all.
I’m willing to bet as well that GM doesn’t even have the original CAD/drawings of the thing.
If we’re lucky, it’s in some retired engineer’s laptop that’s collecting dust in the basement.
Why would they delete the files?
When the car gets that expensive you get it made- not as horrible a price as one might expect
What’s funny is I bet the tow yard didn’t know what they had and assumed it would sell for a few hundred bucks
No shit! Someone down there is shitting bricks!
Specifically bricks of $100 bills.
Are you saying they don’t know what they got? Next you’ll try to tell me that it didn’t run when parked!
Ha!
I think they knew it was worth at least several grand, but might not have realized how collectible it is.
And, to be fair, I don’t think anyone could have predicted the sale price. It’s not like there are any comps out there. My best guess yesterday on the winning bid amount would have been “more than you’d think” but I wouldn’t have been confident getting more specific than that.
That would essentially involve going to a specialist and getting something custom made… it would be expensive, but possible.
I’m sure if you had $100k to spend on this, getting a custom windshield made wouldn’t be too hard.
It’s a definitive piece of automotive history, and assuming the auction is legit it’s the first time in history it’s been possible to actually own one. For something that is unique in the truest sense of the word, $104K is probably a steal.
Didn’t someone recently pay multiples more for a crumpled pile of sheet metal that used to be some rare Ferrari?
When you net worth has a few more zeros than most of ours, $104k is an impulse purchase.
Knowing the propensity of large manufacturers to have parts bin cars, wouldn’t it be funny if the glass was from an Oldsmobile Alero or Buick Rivera of that time period?