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The only GM EV1 ever publicly sold

theautopian.com

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Re: The only GM EV1 ever publicly sold

#61

Post by toast0 »

kube-system wrote: post #44
nubinetwork wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt insurance would allow you to register an old Saturn that was converted into an ev1.

The states register vehicles, not insurance companies. And while a big box insurance company might not insure a heavily modified vehicle, there are niche insurance companies who will. Or you could even self insure in a state that allows it.

I imagine it's not hard to get liability/collision insurance on a modified vehicle, and that's all you really need; most insurance will cover damages you cause on "any vehicle" you drive, so it doesn't usually cost much to add an additional vehicle unless it's particularly risky; that this has a real VIN and a real manufacturer should make it pretty easy. If you really think you need comprehensive insurance, you'd need to get specialty insurance anyway, because normal insurance is going to give you a near zero value on a car like that.

Re: The only GM EV1 ever publicly sold

#62

Post by nebula8804 »

1970-01-01 wrote: post #28

The only place for it is back on the road. If I was the owner I would spit into GM's face and put a million miles on the odometer. It should be a private Uber.

Drive it and park it in front of the GM's headquarters. Do a cannonball run. These guys are Youtubers so I expect lots of great content. However I fear some of the more exciting ideas may not come to bear because "Influencers"/Press are usually afraid of OEM cutting off access. Hopefully these guys aren't in that group.

Re: The only GM EV1 ever publicly sold

#63

Post by bobmcnamara »

madamelic wrote: post #42

I used to walk past one of these every day on my way to and from my dorm. My school apparently had no idea what it was for years and it just sat outside underneath the EE building and people would draw dicks in the dust on it. When they realized what it was, they immediately yonked it inside and made a student team to refurb it. It's super cool I got to see such a piece of history and rare car even if I didn't realiz…

I remember that car!

Slapped a dillo late one night after walking through that tunnel.

Re: The only GM EV1 ever publicly sold

#64

Post by bobmcnamara »

potato3732842 wrote: post #3

Impound/tow/lien -> title has always been the easy button for getting legit title to a vehicle that was never supposed to be sold (UPS vans, Uhaul trailers, etc), so long as it was never reported stolen. Absolutely hilarious that he managed to work the "doesn't work it if pops up as stolen" angle in the opposite direction to make the car impossible to really do anything with (i.e. no junkyard can take it whole, no su…

Some states have rules that enable junkyards to bypass any sort of checks if a vehicle is above a certain age.

Meant to expedite purging jalopies, this, of course, is horribly ripe for abuse by predatory tow companies.

Re: The only GM EV1 ever publicly sold

#65

Post by actionfromafar »

bobmcnamara wrote: post #63
madamelic wrote: post #42

I used to walk past one of these every day on my way to and from my dorm. My school apparently had no idea what it was for years and it just sat outside underneath the EE building and people would draw dicks in the dust on it. When they realized what it was, they immediately yonked it inside and made a student team to refurb it. It's super cool I got to see such a piece of history and rare car even if I didn't realiz…

I remember that car! Slapped a dillo late one night after walking through that tunnel.

It can happen but you should generally refrain from it.

Re: The only GM EV1 ever publicly sold

#66

Post by frankus »

api wrote: post #29

The EV1 was way, way ahead of its time, and was more or less outright killed for various reasons including car makers having deep sunk cost in ICE engine tech. The battery tech back then was vastly inferior to today but it was still good enough for a shorter-range economy EV that could have replaced a gas for a lot of daily commuter drives, especially for two-car families. For reference: the first generation Nissan L…

Pre-Tesla EV companies were kind of stuck in a catch-22, where they couldn't enter the low end of the market (because the tech was still super costly) and they couldn't enter the high end of the market (because either the performance was lacking or they didn't have the resources to scale production).

But with a combination of throwing a lot of money at the problem, being in the right place at the right time, and good execution, they managed to scale up the high end of the market enough to eventually move (somewhat) down-market.

Re: The only GM EV1 ever publicly sold

#67

Post by frankus »

maxerickson wrote: post #51
api wrote: post #29

The EV1 was way, way ahead of its time, and was more or less outright killed for various reasons including car makers having deep sunk cost in ICE engine tech. The battery tech back then was vastly inferior to today but it was still good enough for a shorter-range economy EV that could have replaced a gas for a lot of daily commuter drives, especially for two-car families. For reference: the first generation Nissan L…

How much do you think the EV1 cost just to build? I don't know, but I'd bet it wasn't "cheap second car" low.

I had a couple of coworkers who had them. I vaguely remember it being based on a ~$35k value in 1997 dollars, so definitely out of my price range as a new graduate earning only a little more than that in a year.

On top of that I'm pretty sure the unit economics were firmly in the negative, even discounting the R&D costs.

They were pretty remarkable though—I got a chance to drive a pre-production one at a ride-and-drive a year before and was super impressed.

Re: The only GM EV1 ever publicly sold

#68

Post by ashleyn »

madamelic wrote: post #42

I used to walk past one of these every day on my way to and from my dorm. My school apparently had no idea what it was for years and it just sat outside underneath the EE building and people would draw dicks in the dust on it. When they realized what it was, they immediately yonked it inside and made a student team to refurb it. It's super cool I got to see such a piece of history and rare car even if I didn't realiz…

Begs the question of how it escaped GM's clutches. All EV1s were leased with no buyout option, later recalled, and most crushed.

Re: The only GM EV1 ever publicly sold

#69

Post by Aloha »

ashleyn wrote: post #68
madamelic wrote: post #42

I used to walk past one of these every day on my way to and from my dorm. My school apparently had no idea what it was for years and it just sat outside underneath the EE building and people would draw dicks in the dust on it. When they realized what it was, they immediately yonked it inside and made a student team to refurb it. It's super cool I got to see such a piece of history and rare car even if I didn't realiz…

Begs the question of how it escaped GM's clutches. All EV1s were leased with no buyout option, later recalled, and most crushed.

Once it goes to auction is has a clean title.

Re: The only GM EV1 ever publicly sold

#70

Post by throwup238 »

dmurray wrote: post #14
throwup238 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, having a title of ownership is not the same as registering as a street legal vehicle. BYD cars don’t meet DOT Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards which is a deal breaker, regardless of which state you’re in. Even if you could get it registered, insurance would be impossible.

Are they actually unsafe or they just haven't gone through the certification? They're on sale in Europe where the car safety standards are slightly different to the US, but generally considered more rigorous.

They probably just haven't done it yet since it's a self certification where the manufacturer themselves runs tests following NHTSA test procedures. Importers won't import (and probably can't sell in many jurisdictions) without that self-certification and it's likely just not worth it for BYD right now with the 100% tariff.

I wouldn't be surprised if they've already designed the core components of their cars (like the chassis) that they sell in Europe to meet American standards anyway. Stuff like the height and orientation of headlights can be modified more cheaply later when they want to enter the US market.

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