I just watched the rerun of the show. OK, I am fighting very hard not to scream right now. Hasn't anyone watched this movie/documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" Doesn't anyone know that electric cars (called "EV1" and made by GM) were already on the market and rated highly by consumers in California in 1996? Totally gasoline-free. The cars all of a sudden had to be destroyed and discontinued 6 years later NOT because they didn't run well but because of political reasons and other controversial reasons. You just have to search online or watch the film to find the whole story. GM is generally in a cover-up mode regarding this car.

Tom and Ray: I really love your radio show and this Nova program a lot. I have to ask though: Did the Nova producer(S) ask you to pretend that you knew nothing about EV1, that the "future car" already existed 13 years ago?? Or was it the GM cover-up that even has you fooled ??

I am quoting this from Wikipedia: According to the March 13, 2007, issue of Newsweek, "GM R&D chief Larry Burns . . . now wishes GM hadn't killed the plug-in hybrid EV1 prototype his engineers had on the road a decade ago: 'If we could turn back the hands of time,' says Burns, 'we could have had the Chevy Volt 10 years earlier.'"

If you truly care about the truth on electric cars, just Google "EV1" and watch the documentary I mentioned earlier.

The EV1 was lease only and amounted to a total of $34~44k per car. If EV1s were allowed a bigger market than just in CA, I am almost sure that the price of the car today would not be more than a Prius.