ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, January 6, 1996              TAG: 9601100014
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: A-4  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES 
SOURCE: Associated Press 

NOT YOUR FATHER'S (OR YOUR) AUTO

GENERAL MOTORS takes the first electric plunge into the mass market with the two-seater EV-1.

General Motors Corp. will begin selling electric cars to the public this fall, but only in California and Arizona.

It becomes the first major automaker to get into the mass market with what have long been regarded as experimental or special-use vehicles.

``Well, there it is. It's been a long road to getting it here,'' GM Chairman John Smith Jr. said as the automaker rolled out its nonpolluting electric car - a sporty two-seater called the EV-1 - at this week's Los Angeles Auto Show.

The EV-1 will cost in the mid-$30,000 range, plus an undisclosed amount to buy or lease a battery charger.

Its top speed is 80 mph. It has a range of about 90 miles between charges, but that can be reduced by such factors as cold weather and heavy traffic. In normal use, it's expected to travel between 60 and 70 miles.

Up to now, the market for electric cars has been limited mainly to governments, utilities and other businesses that use fleets of vehicles.

``This is not a concept car, and it's not a conversion,'' Smith said. ``This is a passenger car developed specifically as an electric vehicle.''

At a convention last month, Ford Motor Co. unveiled its electric-powered Ranger pickup, and Chrysler showed its electric minivan. Neither company has said when it will begin selling the vehicles.

The unveiling of the EV-1 comes even as California prepares to scale back its effort to put nonpolluting cars on the road.

The state's Air Resources Board, struggling to meet federal clean-air standards in the nation's smoggiest region, had ordered that 2 percent of all cars offered for sale by major automakers release zero emissions by 1998.

After GM and other automakers complained, board officials said recently that they will probably vote in March to drop the 2 percent requirement, instead mandating only that 10 percent of cars be zero-emission by 2003.

The EV-1 will be manufactured in Lansing, Mich., and initially will be sold at Saturn dealerships in Los Angeles; San Diego; Phoenix; and Tucson, Ariz.

An electric Chevrolet pickup truck will be produced beginning in 1997 at a plant in Shreveport, La., GM said. The truck, a converted model of the S-10, will have a top speed of 70 mph.

GM has spent $350 million on electric car development, more than Chrysler or Ford.

LENGTH: Medium:   57 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP. Actor and environmentalist Ed Begley Jr. plugs into 
          Wal-Mart's electric vehicle charging station at the dedication of 
          the retailer's environmental store in Industry, Calif. Graphic: 
          Chart by AP.