For years, the world has been talking about a “Greener Earth”. But what does that really mean? Does it mean we should plant more trees or recycle more? Automakers think differently. As for them, they also have been talking about making the planet a better place to live… starting with the ozone. As the topic appears in papers repeatedly, automakers have found small ways to use up newer, longer-lasting resources. Moving away from using the now-one-hundred dollars a barrel oil, they have found ways of using battery-powered cars and other modes of transportation.
Starting in California, automaker General Motors introduced a pure-electric vehicle in 1996, cleverly named the EV1. The cars were cheap and they definitely were environmentally friendly. Citizens of California bought them. GM built over 400 power stations throughout the state for owners of the EV1 to use and recharge their cars. Sadly, there are downsides to this great piece of ecofriendly solution: The cars could not travel more than 29-30 miles on a single charge.
Batteries used in the EV1 were of the Nickel-Metal Hydride family, (Ni-MH). Newer batteries, developed by Stanford R. Ovshinsky, were introduced to the EV1, making the cars able to run longer on a charge. This change in batteries used in the EV1 allowed for 100-120 miles to be driven before the vehicle would need to be replenished of electricity. Last, but not least, another battery family came into play: The Lithium Ion batteries. Used in combination with Ovshinsky’s newfound development, the EV1′s had the ability to run just a bit longer. As GM was putting the final touches on its environmentally-friendly car, another company was getting jealous.
Daimler-Chrysler wanted a piece of the action. They fought with the state on mandates to allow more research to be done on these types of cars. The EV1s were ruining business for other automakers. The routine maintainance on the cars were virtually nonexistant. A regular routine maintanance would include rotating the tires and filling up the washer fluid. All the oil changes, replacement parts, and others such as those were huge business to automakers. The bringing of this car would decrease business for the other makers of cars. Through a series of events in a short amount of time, the EV1s were ordered to be destroyed. People had their cars repossessed; it left people crying.
In conclusion, automakers talk a lot of hype about making a car that will change the Earth… but no one company seems to do anything about it.