It is named the EV1. It is powered by electricity. But far from being an updated milk-float or Sinclair C5, it is being touted as the world's most advanced car.
General Motors, which has spent $350 million on its development, hopes to steal a march on its rivals with the two-seater. But the future of the American car industry - arguably the world industry - will be riding on the success or failure of the $35,000 (£22,600) car.
The need for such vehicles was highlighted this week when the British Government announced a crackdown on air pollution and charged local councils with drawing up plans to curb emissions. The era of the clean or electric car is rapidly approaching.
To underline its commitment GM put the EV1, surrounded by its 300-strong team, on the cover of its 1995 annual report. Detractors have scoffed at GM's huge investment, but the company believes it has acquired invaluable expertise in a market it has created overnight.
Competitors have voiced scepticism that GM will see any return on its six-year investment. But with its sights set on the world market, it is already working on the next generation of electric vehicles, with megacities such as Mexico City, Sao Paolo and Beijing fuelling demand for an affordable, non-polluting car. GM chairman John Smith has described the EV1 as the first product in a 'portfolio of products' for the market.
Since GM announced that the EV1 will go on sale later this year, Toyota, Honda and Ford have said they will follow suit. In Europe, France has run the world's biggest trial yet for electric cars, with Peugeot-Citroen. Next year a new experiment, Tulip, will test demand in Tours for electric hire-cars. But for now the EV1 holds centre-stage as it goes on sale in Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix and Tucson. It will be a warm-weather car as heating requirements in a cold climate would drain too much energy. Orders have already started coming in - chat-show supremo Jay Leno says he wants one, and several trendy LA restaurants have offered to install the battery charger in their car parks.
The EV1 has the tree-hugging celebrity market sewn up. But selling it to more ordinary folk will be tough, especially when you can buy a Cadillac or a Jeep Grand Cherokee for the same money.
The EV1 experience begins even before you get in. No keys are needed. You punch in your code on a series of numbers by the door to unlock it. The same code starts the car. The engine is eerily quiet, emitting a high-pitched whine as you accelerate. Engine noise could have been ultra-low, but test drivers wanted to be able to hear it.
Acceleration is fast, reflecting the influence of the Lotus design engineers. No golf cart, the EV1 can reach 60mph in 8.5 seconds, and top speed is 80mph its range is 70 miles for the city and 90 miles for motorway driving.
The EV1 is powered by a T-shaped battery-pack, consisting of 26 12-volt lead acid modules. It takes roughly three hours to recharge the battery using a weatherproof paddle inserted into a letterbox-type slot in the nose of the car. A 220-volt charger is expected to cost Dollars 2,000.
The EV1 will be the first car to bear the GM logo, a testament to the combined effort of various company subsidiaries - including Hughes Electronics, which supplied its aerospace and defence technology expertise. GM officials say the EV1 was built more like an aircraft than a car.
The chassis is made of aluminium and weighs less than 20 stones. Many of the EV1's lightweight innovations will be incorporated in GM's traditional cars.
It may be asked why it has taken so long for manufacturers to come up with a commercially viable electric car. GM, for one, has a long experience of electric vehicle production, reaching back to its 1912 trucks. Indeed, at the turn of the century, the number one form of mechanised transport in the US was the steam-powered car, followed by electric cars and then by petrol-burning, internal combustion motors. In a sense, history has come full circle.
'With the environmental pressures we face, there is a requirement for a clean, quiet vehicle. Electric cars will find their place. This will not be a short-term phenomenon,' said Bob Purcell, executive director of GM Electric Vehicles.
Political pressures have played their part, with California leading the campaign for cleaner cars. It applied rigorous exhaust pollution standards in the sixties and seventies, and the state forced the development of catalytic converters on exhausts, now fitted as standard equipment.
After GM announced its decision to market the EV1 , California came out with emission rules requiring that 2 per cent of manufacturer's sales (20,000 cars) be zero emission, or electric, by 1998. But pressure from the carmakers made the state drop its directive.
GM and others argued that a deadline would force manufacturers to start marketing electric cars, whether they were any good or not. While this sounds self-serving, GM's decision coupled with the state of California's consideration of zero emission guidelines many have been enough to create the market.
The EV1 has had to wait for the necessary technological breakthroughs. While most have focused on battery development, engineers and technicians also had to come up with the appropriate power-switching devices to convert DC to AC power and feed it to the motor.
That switching technology emerged from Sunraycer, a solar energy-recharged electric vehicle that won the 1987 Solar Challenge in Australia. In preparation for the EV1 's debut, GM built 30 test cars in 11 cities, where families drove the cars for two weeks at a time. It found widespread acceptance as a third car, suitable for running errands, where the typical 40-mile commuter trip was well within the EV1 's range.
Test families said if it had a 100-mile range it would definitely become the family's second car, and GM is confident that the next generation of electric cars will achieve that range.
AT present, the EV1 is destined solely for the US market. GM has declined to talk about sales estimates for fear of losing face if the EV1 fails. But the carmaker has no illusions of high sales, and expects the EV1 to be a 'low-volume vehicle' - perhaps a loss leader but also a launch pad for more sophisticated vehicles.
'This is more than just starting the electric vehicle market for the US,' said Mr Purcell. 'It is the starting point for a whole range of hybrid and fuel-cell cars. This gives us the technological base for other vehicles, and we are that much farther down the cost curve and up the knowledge curve. There is no substitute for the discipline of a production programme.'
In an indication of GM's long-term strategy, the EV1 has already been shipped to Beijing for test drives by senior Chinese government officials. GM chairman Jack Smith believes that the developing countries will provide excellent opportunities for a cheap advanced vehicle, one step up from the motor scooter. China has already expressed a strong interest in electric cars, for obvious reasons, and has the technical competence to sustain a mass market for them.
Battery-powered cars are not the only avenue of research for non-combustion engines. Fuel-cell cars are another form of hybrid - hybrids use a power source which produces electricity to overcome battery limitations. Mercedes-Benz has been experimenting with a fuel-cell car, shrinking the power system so that it fits into a normal car. There are also cars which run on compressed natural gas or liquid alternatives to petrol and diesel. But only electric cars qualify as zero emission vehicles.
GM displayed the first ads for the EV1 during the Atlanta Olympic games, appealing to American consumers' desire for cutting-edge products. Mr Purcell believes that the EV1 's strongest selling point is that it finally delivers on a product that always seemed to be five years away.
'What is unique about the EV1 is that it is here today and that you will be driving the world's most advanced automobile,' he said. In keeping with the emphasis on the futuristic, it is no wonder that GM's name for its new product sounds more like an aircraft than a car.
