page_title: Electric vehicle
section_title: Experimentation
hierarchical_section_title: Electric vehicle / History / Experimentation
caption_attribution_description: English: General Motors EV1
context_page_description: An electric vehicle is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors or traction motors for propulsion. An electric vehicle may be powered through a collector system by electricity from off-vehicle sources, or may be self-contained with a battery, solar panels, fuel cells or an electric generator to convert fuel to electricity. EVs include, but are not limited to, road and rail vehicles, surface and underwater vessels, electric aircraft and electric spacecraft.
  EVs first came into existence in the mid-19th century, when electricity was among the preferred methods for motor vehicle propulsion, providing a level of comfort and ease of operation that could not be achieved by the gasoline cars of the time. Modern internal combustion engines have been the dominant propulsion method for motor vehicles for almost 100 years, but electric power has remained commonplace in other vehicle types, such as trains and smaller vehicles of all types.
  Commonly, the term EV is used to refer to an electric car. In the 21st century, EVs saw a resurgence due to technological developments, and an increased focus on renewable energy.
context_section_description: The emergence of metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) technology led to the development of modern electric road vehicles. The MOSFET (MOS field-effect transistor, or MOS transistor), invented by Mohamed M. Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in 1959, led to the development of the power MOSFET by Hitachi in 1969, and the single-chip microprocessor by Federico Faggin, Marcian Hoff, Masatoshi Shima and Stanley Mazor at Intel in 1971. The power MOSFET and the microcontroller, a type of single-chip microprocessor, led to significant advances in electric vehicle technology. MOSFET power converters allowed operation at much higher switching frequencies, made it easier to drive, reduced power losses, and significantly reduced prices, while single-chip microcontrollers could manage all aspects of the drive control and had the capacity for battery management. Another important technology that enabled modern highway-capable electric cars is the lithium-ion battery, invented by John Goodenough, Rachid Yazami and Akira Yoshino in the 1980s, which was responsible for the development of electric vehicles capable of long-distance travel.
  In January 1990, General Motors' President introduced its EV concept two-seater, the "Impact", at the Los Angeles Auto Show. That September, the California Air Resources Board mandated major-automaker sales of EVs, in phases starting in 1998. From 1996 to 1998 GM produced 1117 EV1s, 800 of which were made available through three-year leases.
  Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, and Toyota also produced limited numbers of EVs for California drivers. In 2003, upon the expiration of GM's EV1 leases, GM discontinued them. The discontinuation has variously been attributed to:
  the auto industry's successful federal court challenge to California's zero-emissions vehicle mandate,
  a federal regulation requiring GM to produce and maintain spare parts for the few thousands EV1s and
  the success of the oil and auto industries' media campaign to reduce public acceptance of EVs.
  A movie made on the subject in 2005–2006 was titled Who Killed the Electric Car? and released theatrically by Sony Pictures Classics in 2006. The film explores the roles of automobile manufacturers, oil industry, the U.S. government, batteries, hydrogen vehicles, and consumers, and each of their roles in limiting the deployment and adoption of this technology.
  Ford released a number of their Ford Ecostar delivery vans into the market. Honda, Nissan and Toyota also repossessed and crushed most of their EVs, which, like the GM EV1s, had been available only by closed-end lease. After public protests, Toyota sold 200 of its RAV EVs to eager buyers; they later sold at over their original forty-thousand-dollar price. This lesson did not go unlearned; BMW of Canada sold off a number of Mini EVs when their Canadian testing ended.
  The production of the Citroën Berlingo Electrique stopped in September 2005.
caption: General Motors EV1 electric car (1996–1998), story told in movie Who Killed the Electric Car?
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