I disagree that the EV1 cold be profitably sold for a "reasonable' price. The price I heard is that at less than $65,000 the EV1 was a money loser for GM. I got this number from an electrical engineer at Daimler-Chrysler. He has worked on an electric car there and said that unless GM has some secret technology that he is unaware of to get the performance the EV1 gave would require a selling price way above $25,000.
[WS:] This issue was addressed in the film - the argument they used was that mass production would bring the cost considerably down - which seems to make sense
Keep in mind that these electrics do not use the next generation Li-Ion batteries but Ni-MH batteries. Those [WS:] The film says that they introduced new battery types (I'm not sure if these were Li-Ion, I thin it was a newer technology), which made the EV1 viable. I may add that lead battery recycling is not a problem for gasoline powered vehicle, so there is nothing that prevents similar solution for electrics.
I was especially irked by listening to people who got sweetheart deals, leasing the EV1 for literally 1/4 of it's actual market value, bitching when that deal ended. Who the hell wouldn't want to lease a $65,000 car you [WS:] It did not irk me at all. $30-40k is nothing comparing to the $100k government subsidy that SUV buyers currently get. The former was at least for a good public cause in addition to protecting corporate profits.
hybrids are the way to go in the short and medium range however. Focusing on the fact that real change will probably be government mandated rather than the results of market forces should have been a larger part of the film.
[WS:] Ditto.
Wojtek