In 1987, GM hired a small California R&D company to build the Sunraycer, a solar-powered EV to enter into the first solar car race across Australia. That company was AeroVironment, founded in 1971 and led by Dr Paul MacCready, a world-renowned engineer and scientist. Paul had developed the Gossamer Condor, a man-powered airplane that crossed the English Channel and won the Henry Kramer prize. That was followed by several more aircraft including the Solar Challenger, a solar-powered aircraft that flew from Paris to London. The Sunraycer easily won the race. A year later, Alec Brooks, AV’s lead engineer on the project, proposed designing an EV sports car to GM. They eventually bought into the idea and the Santana project was born. The prototype was finished in time for the 1990 Auto Show, but the name Santana was already registered to Volkswagen. So GM chose the name “Impact”. It was immediately ridiculed, so the name of the production version was changed to EV1.
I was lucky enough to be hired straight out of college by AV as an engineer, scientist, and later manager. I was employee number 8. After suffering through the oil and gas crisis of 1973, I knew I wanted an EV. In 1980 I purchased a new ComutaCar and used it to commute to work. Paul MacCready saw it and immediately wanted a ride. I like to think that I gave him his first ride in an EV and perhaps planted a seed that bore fruit years later. Besides Paul and Alec, a lot of other well-known EV names like Wally Rippel, Alan Cocconi, and many others, perhaps some in this discussion group, took part in this adventure. For a very detailed and interesting history of the EV-1, read the book “The Car That Could”, by Michael Shnayerson ©1996 (ISBN 0-679-42105-X). John > On Apr 13, 2021, at 11:55 AM, nathan christiansn via EV <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Hello Everyone, > > I just finished watching the documentary "Who Killed The Electric Car" was > wondering if anyone on EVDL has owned a General Motors EV1 and would be > willing to share his or her experiences with it. > > Thanks, > > Nathan _______________________________________________ Address messages to [email protected] No other addresses in TO and CC fields UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive/ LIST INFO: http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org
