1990 Impact Experimental

Specifications

Horsepower: 137

Torque: 110 ft. lbs.

Transmission: Single-speed

Powertrain : Three-Phase AC Induction Motor, 18.7 kWh lead-acid battery

Range: 125 miles

Drive: Front Wheel

Weight: 3026 lbs.

The California Clean Air Act was penned in the 1990’s, requiring 10% of vehicles sold in California to have zero emissions. Introduced at the 1990 Los Angeles Auto Show, the Impact was unveiled with great response. As one of the first fully electric cars to start and industry wide effort to reduce emissions. 
 
The car took inspiration from the SunRaycer electric car. It’s aerodynamic design was used to increase efficiency by cutting down on wind resistance. The car was powered by 32 lead-aside rechargeable batteries, which made its performance similar to many sports cars at the time. The Impact only weighed 3,086 lbs, which made it fairly light. 

The successor to the Impact was the EV1, which was one of the first mass produced electric cars. The EV1 was in production from 1996-1999, where 1,117 units were produced. GM made the EV1 available to customers on a limited lease-only agreement to people living in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Tucson.
The EV1 leases were part of GM’s “real-world engineering evaluation”, where those participants studied the feasibility of GM producing and selling an electric car. The EV1s were not for sale after the lease and could only be serviced at a Saturn dealership.