Friday November 14th, 2008 - GM Training Center - Burbank, CA
The Honorable Nate Holden, former California State Senator and L.A. City Council Member, held a press conference demanding General Motors apologize to the American people for destroying the automaker's EV1 plug-in electric vehicle. Mr. Holden demanded the EV1's immediate re-introduction before, or in exchange for, any Government bailout of GM.
“General Motors compounded their financial woes by destroying the
EV1 and continued to work with the oil companies to gouge the public. It's a dishonest act on the part of General Motors.” said Holden.
This press conference was held at the very same GM facility where the
EV1 Vigil took place during February and March 2005. Loyal
GM EV1 customers tried valiantly to save 78 remaining EV1s from being
crushed. Activists kept a 24/7 watch over the vehicles and offered to buy the EV1s from GM for their residual value.
Alexandra Paul and
Colette Divine were arrested while peacefully protesting and making a stand against an EV1 filled GM transport semi attempting to exit the facility.
Chris Paine's film
"Who Killed the Electric Car ?" documented the
EV1 Vigil. Former EV1 drivers Doug Korthof and Chris Reeves attended and spoke at Holden's press conference, having each arrived in their respective plug-in EVs (
2002 Toyota RAV4-EV and
1997 GM Chevy S10 EV).
Alex Datig (Business & Public Affairs Consultant,
HighRoad Consulting Group LLC) let us know that Mr. Holden had a fruitful day getting the EV1 word out. After the press conference at the GM Training Center Mr Holden went to City Hall to conduct more interviews and to speak to elected officials. He sent the story to
KFWB News 980 and to President-elect Barack Obama.
Mr Holden had the following words for the loyal supporters of the EV1 :
"I want to thank the EV1 family for their support and encouragement for me to continue the fight to hold General Motors and other auto manufacturers' feet to the fire. As you know, today I strongly urge Congress to withhold any bailout funds from the auto industry, unless and until the industry agrees to mass-produce fuel efficiency automobiles; electric cars.
Congress should not, under any circumstances, release the bailout money to automobile manufacturers without making these demands. Without these demands, the automobile manufacturers will just continue with "business as usual," manufacturing gas-guzzlers, which would increase our dependency on the middle-east oil producing countries.
This dependency must end now!
We are the advocates of the electric car family and must continue our fight to save the electric car. We must not allow Congress to backslide, or "bait and switch." At the very least, members of the electric car family demand that the conditions that were incorporated in the funding legislation of the $25 Billion loan package of September 2008 be adhered to.
I respectfully urge each member of the electric car family to contact Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of the United States Senate, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each of your local members of Congress, to let them know that any deviation on their part from the conditions of the loan approved in September will not be tolerated.
Lets keep the pressure on!"
Nate Holden
California State Senate, ret.
Los Angeles City Council, ret.
Hon. Nate Holden's next press conference on the EV1 will be held on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at 10:00 AM at the
LA Auto Show (
LA Convention Center - Pavilion adjacent to West Entrance).
[
Click here to see more coverage from the Bring Back the GM EV1 Press Conference.]
This summer Swiss visionary 
Towards this end, the Solartaxi is a promotional vehicle and not one that is suggested we all be driving. The 
Solartaxi has two Swiss made 14kwhr
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