The Story of the EV1

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The EV1 is the car that my listeners and occasionally readers of my blog write me about. I spent a lot of time inside GM talking to the people building the vault who it turns out are many of the same people who built the EV1. Back in 1988 GM's engineers entered an international electric car challenge. In terms of its reduced rolling friction, its aerodynamics, the battery, the internal control that was an astonishing piece of work. But guess what? Its range is initially like 70 or 80 miles. Never gets higher than 110.

Jonathan Rauch, of the Brookings Institution and the Atlantic Monthly, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the evolution of the Chevy Volt, GM's planned electric car. Due to the transparency of GM's effort, Rauch was able to spend a great deal of time on site at GM writing a piece for the Atlantic Monthly on GM's plans and hopes. Rauch discusses the huge risks, GM's past failures, and GM's hopes that the Volt might change the company's culture. The conversation closes with a discussion of competitors and the implications for energy policy.