Rare GM EV1 electric car spotted at Australian auto museum

A long-forgotten but significant piece of automotive history has been unearthed at a car museum in Victoria: a GM EV1, one of a very rare breed of electric vehicles.

The EV1 was made by General Motors from 1996 to 1999 and leased in a number of US states before the carmaker decided to crush most of the 1,100 or so vehicles made.

The EV1 famously played a starring role in “Who Killed the Electric Car”, which documented the EV1’s demise and GM’s claims that there was no demand for it, despite it reportedly being relatively well-received at the time.

Of course, General Motors has since embraced electric vehicles and has even been credited by US president Joe Biden as “leading” the EV market in the US – although it can’t be ignored that this would not be making EVs at all now if it weren’t for a Californian upstart called Tesla.

It is understood that the few EV1s that remain were gutted and donated to museums and universities in the US – except at least one, it turns out.

The EV1 in question came to our attention via Jason Panosh, a member of an electric vehicle Facebook group. He says he saw it in the Museum of Vehicle Evolution (MOVE) in Shepparton, Victoria, and that he was told by a member of staff it had been brought to Australia by the now-defunct Holden.

“This appears to have been a forgotten vehicle, brought to Holden from the USA for testing,” Panosh says. It was apparently placed in (less than ideal) storage, only to be “discovered” after parent company General Motors shut Holden down in early 2021 and the iconic brand had to clean house.

Speaking with The Driven, MOVE curator Jade Burley says that the preproduction prototype is part of Holden’s heritage collection and that there are plans for a Holden museum being driven by remaining entities with a vested interest in the Holden legacy such as Walkinshaw and GMSV.

While the EV1 is no longer driveable, “everything is still in place as far as I know.” However, he adds, “it’s entirely possible they’ve rendered it inoperable – but it appears to be relatively complete.”

Word is that the vehicle will remain at the museum for the time being, though perhaps not for long. “It might be there for a few more weeks, or it might be there for months,” says Panosh.

“But hopefully this iconic vehicle will find a new home where it can be showcased to the world.”