Selling the Electric Car

Selling the Electric Car: "A real or perceived lack of marketplace demand became, in fact, the rationale for GM and other brands to pull the vehicles. But don't mention that to John Dabels. 'When GM says there was no interest and no demand, [that] is just bullshit,' says Dabels, who headed up marketing for the EV-1. 'The EV-1 got more positive press for GM than the rest of the company combined.' In addition to faulting a design that was 'innovative but impractical,' Dabels -- who now heads EV Power Systems, a company that retrofits commercial truck fleets with EV technology -- says that GM's entrenched and gas-engine-centered culture was unwilling to embrace the potential that electrics represented. 'The technology was ready,' he says, 'but introducing a disruptive technology into an existing organization is difficult if not impossible.'

If Dabels is correct, it's probably why many of the newest entrants to the EV market (with the notable exception of cars like the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt) are indie makers with names like Zap, Fisker, Coda and Tesla. Meanwhile, Dabels laments what he saw as a needless and expensive end to a project that would have been a winner for GM, to say nothing of the environment. 'I still get frustrated,' he says. '[GM] passed up a great opportunity. Even Rick Waggoner has admitted that. Cancelling the EV-1 was a mistake.'"