
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 19, 1990                   TAG: 9004190326
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

GM UNVEILS PLANS TO BUILD ELECTRIC CAR

General Motors has decided to mass produce an electric automobile that will make a major contribution to protecting the environment, GM Chairman Roger Smith announced Wednesday.

Skeptical environmental activists said GM had previously announced plans to produce an electric car by 1984. Wednesday's announcement was "long on rhetoric and short on detail," said Robert Dewey of the Environmental Action Foundation.

Smith said GM has developed technology that it didn't have before. While he didn't assert that the electric car could replace the gasoline-powered auto in the near future, he said it will meet "most urban drivers' daily needs." The prototype, called Impact, can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in 8 seconds, can go 125 miles between rechargings and emits no pollution, Smith said. - Cox News Service

by CNB