More Fans Yearn for EV1

General Motors wants to be viewed as supporting futuristic developments in propulsion systems and is constantly touting one research and development effort after another (“Peter Buys an Electric Car,” by Peter Horton, June 8). But it does not want to be the guinea pig in actually producing radically new vehicles in quantities sufficient to break the chicken-versus-egg cycle.

Unfortunately for GM, its EV1 design team came up with something immediately practical and desirable, and the limited production runs mandated by the California Air Resources Board put these prized vehicles into the hands of a significant number of avid consumers. Every EV1 driver meets at least three new people a year who are dying to buy or lease one. If the vehicles were still available, the market would grow by at least 300% per year! This spells trouble to an auto manufacturer that does not have the fortitude and bravery to make a serious introduction of a radically new product.

Edward B. Stoneham

Los Altos

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I would guess that GM would require its PR department to do anything it could to counter the negative impression readers might form of GM’s corporate culpability in sinking the EV1. No matter. I drove one of those beauties from January 1997 until GM tore it from me last March. It was my favorite car of the many I have owned, and it richly bore out the advantages of battery-powered electric cars for commuting in a city like Los Angeles.

Gerald Allen Green

Los Angeles