GM Chairman John F. Smith Jr. To underscore the company's commitment to manufacturing cleaner cars, Smith, along with dozens of other GM employees at the show, donned green sweaters at a news conference. GM, like other U.S. automakers, hopes that displaying its advanced-technology cars and trucks will discourage federal regulators from enacting stricter rules on vehicle fuel consumption and pollution. About 300 EV1's were sold in California and Arizona last year. The company hopes to sell 500-700 this year. By 2004 or sooner, it plans to introduce an electric car powered by a fuel cell.
Fuel cells combine hydrogen and oxygen to create electricity used to run the car.
While it works on getting those cars in the mainstream, GM said it will work with Amoco Corp. to make cleaner gasoline and diesel available for internal combustion engines. He said a key hurdle is the cost of new, cleaner technologies. GM is unwilling to produce cars at a loss, Pearce said.