This GM EV1 was salvaged with plans to restore it to as close to its original condition as possible and make it roadworthy. Given its special history, this is the only EV1 that could ever become road legal again. The car has been damaged and many vital components are missing, so the restoration will take a long time.
GM’s EV1 practically needs no introduction. This was the first modern attempt at a dedicated electric vehicle, built from the ground up as an electric vehicle, from a major automaker. GM made just over 1,000 of them, all of which were leased, but never sold. When the EV1 program ended, they were all retired, never to be put on the road again.
Most of the EV1s were crushed, but a few survived (about 40 examples), most of which were donated to universities and research institutes as permanent pieces of electric vehicle history. A few are known to still be in operation; Six of the companies reportedly ended up privately owned. Due to their historical significance, backstory, and rarity, today’s EV1s are very expensive.
One was recently sold at a reserve auction for $104,000. It has a cracked windshield and headlight (requires custom fabrication), and is missing several vital components. But Electrek Garage wants to bring it back to life and get it back on the road without making modifications to its drivetrain. They want to keep it as original as possible, which is what you want to do with a vehicle this rare.
However, since GM removed the car’s battery pack when it was retired in 2003, it will need new batteries, a new battery monitoring system (BMS) and other vital components that may have been taken out as well. They plan to replace everything with what was originally in the car, but it may be difficult to track them down.
Some components may be shared with other GM vehicles, such as the on-board charger, which was also removed in this car, and the cut cables connected to it – GM really wanted to make sure no one would put any of those back on the road. That is why this project is so special, and that is why the car, once revived and legalized to be driven on public roads, will remain the only electric car in the world that is allowed on the roads legally.
It would be really interesting to compare how the EV1 compares to today’s electric cars. In its day, it was by far the most advanced electric car in the world, thanks to its custom architecture, and a really fun car to drive. With a range of up to 150 miles in later examples and a 0-60 mph acceleration time of 8.9 seconds, it was superior to any electric competitor of its era.
While some components, like the Magna Charge inductive charging pad and its accompanying charger (which can draw up to 6.6 kilowatts), have been used in other vehicles, including the first Toyota RAV4 EV and the Chevrolet S10 EV, other parts can be more difficult to track down.
Unlike the vast majority of electric cars, especially early ones, GM’s first move wasn’t to convert an existing combustion car, which is why putting it back to work again will be difficult — that restoration will take some time.
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