Let us not forget that Honda was just as guilty as GM for not renewing leases and destroying perfectly functioning EVs, just like GM did with their EV1s.
A relatively unknown story that was part of one of the darkest chapters in the story of: EVs, the Automotive Industry and US Federal Government intervention.
Besides the destruction of perfectly good electric cars perhaps even more disturbing was the obvious extent of power and influence that corporate interests and profits have over the actions of Federal and State government and the inability of citizens to even regulate the quality of air that they breathe.
California had passed laws that required 10% of the cars sold in their state between 2003-2008 to be electric or zero-emission vehicles and for the most part the auto industry delivered. However, after it looked to the auto and oil industries that California just might be the first of many states to have such mandates they decided to fight it.
Andrew Card chief of staff of the Bush Administration and also coincidentally the President and CEO of the American Automobile Manufacturers Association, and chief lobbyist for General Motor joined the suit against California to kill California’s electric car mandate, which was defeated and shortly thereafter the car manufacturers rounded up all their EVs and destroyed them.
GM obviously received the majority of the bad press associated with destroying 1000’s of perfectly functional electric vehicles that became a huge part of the story behind the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?” (2006), by Chris Paine, currently distributed by Sony Pictures Classics available via Netflix and DVD.
However there was another story that occurred at roughly the same period of time that was captured on film by “California’s Green which aired on PBS, that graphically depicted the fate of over 300 Honda EV plus electric cars, which were also shredded.
When Huell Hower asked the worker at the car crushing facility “These look like perfectly good cars, why are you shredding them up?”
The worker replied “Little bit of a mystery really. Since I have been here the last eight years. They bring us these cars from the dealerships, and they say they are test cars and they have been brought over to test various emissions and the insurance companies won’t reinsure them so they have to watch them be destroyed here.”
Honda EV Plus video clip of several ill-fated EVs on their way to the shredder (at time stamp 16:50).
It is kind of scary that Honda would destroy their EVs just like GM because they didn’t want any electric cars on the road. No sense even having a few hundred of them out in the wild gaining fans and reminding the population on a daily basis that electric powered vehicles could become part of their transportation reality. It is hard to believe the theory that auto insurance companies could not be found to insure EVs so they had to be destroyed especially since ICE vehicles have such a horrible history of injuries and fatalities due to car fires. However, unlikely in the minds of some it certainly appears that: Big Oil, the legacy Car manufacturers and Federal US Government (as best) hindered the adoption of a transportation alternative that was: clean, cheap and was a proven viable technology to those that had opportunity to drive them.
Perhaps even more insidious is that Honda also jumped on the bandwagon along with the other car manufacturers to pull a bait and switch scam–convincing the California government you don’t want EVs today you want hydrogen cars tomorrow instead. A tomorrow that has not come and is just as far off as it was more than a decade ago. The Auto Manufacturers along with big oil are pushing hydrogen because it maintains the status quo and maintains a monopoly on fuel wish leaves the general public with little to no options to fuel their own electric vehicles, which they could do themselves via: solar, wind, geothermal and various other sources.
Honda built and delivered several hundred of the Honda EV Plus models between 1997-1999 as a compliance car (not unlike GM’s EV1) to satisfy California’s Air Resources Board clean air requirements that forced auto manufacturers to make at least 10% of their vehicles sold from adding any more to their serious air pollution problem.
The Honda EV Plus was special because it was the first Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) from one of the major car companies to feature NiMH EV battery packs prior to that electric cars were powered by traditional lead acid batteries.
Production of the Honda EV Plus was halted in 1999 after approximately 340 EV Plus models were produced and Honda started producing its first hybrid electric vehicle, the Honda Insight.
Ken Burridge drives a Nissan LEAF in Melbourne Australia
Green-Eco-EV News Reporting by Ken Green Burridge
EV of the Year Judge, independent green journalist, photographer, author and sustainability activist that has published over 1000 articles. Mr Burridge’s travels have taken him to over 30 countries and 300+ major cities. He is originally from the USA, but has been residing in Australia for the last seven years. Connect to Ken Burridge on: Twitter, facebook, Google+, Linked in or website
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