How GM’s brilliant little car kicked off an EV boom 30 years ago

Imagining a world where GM doubled down on its EV1 has become one of the great “what if’s” of automobile history.

Few cars have captured the popular imagination quite like the EV1, the pioneering electric vehicle that General Motors launched a generation ago. Approved for production in 1994 and released two years later, the EV1 wowed the auto industry, seduced the media, and seeded a community of passionate early adopters thrilled to drive a car that rendered gas stations obsolete.