Electric car drivers charge that the automakers have spent more money fighting against electric cars, by funding industry lobbying groups such as the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which oppose emissions regulations, than they have marketing electric cars to consumers.

Why would a company try to undermine its own product? Because it didn't want to produce the product in the first place, say electric car advocates.

California state regulators forced automakers to bring electric cars to market. The cars came out in very limited distribution in the late '90s, mostly available only by lease, as a stratagem to win the carmakers credits toward California's zero emission vehicles mandate. That regulation currently requires that by 2003, 2 percent of all new vehicles offered for sale in the state be zero-emission, and another 2 percent be "advanced technology partial ZEVs," such as "hybrid" electric/gas vehicles.

The automakers and dealers currently have state and federal lawsuits pending to prevent the California regulations from going into effect in 2003, even though those requirements represent a significant retreat from California's original zero-emissions vehicle mandate of 1990, which would have required that 2 percent of all vehicles offered for sale in the state be zero-emission by 1998, 5 percent by 2000 and 10 percent in 2003.

"It's been watered down consistently over the years, because the car companies have spent millions to fight it," says Jamie Knapp, a spokesperson for the California ZEV Alliance, a lobbying coalition of environmental and public-health groups. "It's a real shame, since the automakers have already proven that the technology exists, and there are already people who want the cars and can't get them."

But now it looks like even the watered-down regulations won't go into effect, at least not in 2003. "The Air Board has said publicly that it's not going to enforce the 2003 mandate," says Richard Varenchik, deputy communications director for the board.

That's because a federal judge in Fresno issued a preliminary injunction against the mandate two months ago, ordering the California Air Resources Board not to enforce the regulation. The Production Electric Drivers Vehicle Coalition has filed a motion to intervene in the federal case, hoping to give electric-vehicle drivers a chance to appear before the court and make the case that there are drivers who want these cars. The hearing will be held in Fresno on Oct. 30. But a state suit, brought by automakers and dealers, also enjoins the Air Resources Board from enforcing the regulations.

Varenchik from the Air Resources Board says the litigation means the board will likely reconvene to review the whole zero emission vehicle mandate next year.

But what will become of GM's existing EV1s, even if California doesn't find a way to enforce the regulation that they were put on the road to meet?

"The majority of cars are going to get crushed," says Hanssen. "GM wants the program over. They want the cars off the road. They want it out of their hair. They don't want us out there driving these cars, talking about how great they are." GM did not return calls for comment.

"It's a terrible shame, because it's the best zero emissions vehicle out there, and they were first to market with the technology," says Knapp from the California ZEV Alliance.

While electric cars are being snuffed out, automakers are trotting out hybrid vehicles as the answer for fuel-economy-conscious consumers. Nationally, Honda has sold more than 8,000 of its Honda Insight hybrids. The company is projecting sales of 2,000 a month in the first year for its 2003 Honda Civic hybrid. Toyota, claiming 90 percent of the hybrid market worldwide, says it has sold over 100,000 of its various hybrid models. American car companies say they'll follow suit with their own hybrid models.

Unlike electric cars, hybrids do not have to be charged, since they run partially on gasoline. But electric car drivers are reluctant to go back to the fuel pump at all. "I have no intention of going back to gasoline if I can possibly avoid it," says Bob Seldon, a patent attorney in Santa Monica who has been driving an EV1 for five years. "In my electric car, I start with a full 'tank' every morning. I've got the range I need. It has great performance with zero maintenance, and electricity costs me about half as much per mile as gasoline."

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