Although the broader automotive industry is now pushing for the mass-adoption of all-electric vehicles, General Motors has been dipping its toes the EV pool for a while now, launching the GM EV1 in the ‘90s as the first mass-produced electric vehicle from a major automaker of the modern era. Later, GM launched the Chevy S-10 Electric as the world’s first EV pickup truck from an OEM. Now, one group of mechanics is setting out to resurrect this abandoned Chevy S-10 after it was parked for 25 years, as seen in the following video.
Before we get to the video, it makes sense to recap the history behind the Chevy S-10 Electric. Based on the Regular Cab / Short Box Chevy S-10 pickup, the S-10 Electric replaced the internal combustion engine under the hood with an 85 kW three-phased AC induction motor, tech that was pulled from the GM EV1. Output was sent to the front wheels, similar to EV1, while a series of lead acid batteries and nickel-metal hydride batteries provided the juice.
The Chevy S-10 Electric launched for the 1997 model year and was primarily marketed to utility fleet customers. The all-electric truck was later updated for 1998, then subsequently discontinued after 492 units were produced, with only about 60 units actually sold to customers instead of leased. Most of the vehicles that weren’t sold were scrapped.
Although it would be hard to argue the Chevy S-10 Electric was any sort of sales success, it’s undoubtedly a critical part of GM’s EV history, and deserves a spot alongside the EV1 in the automaker’s history books. No surprise then that this particular example is the subject of a recent restoration video from The Questionable Garage YouTube channel.
Clocking in at a little under 50 minutes, the video outlines the shop’s efforts to get this Chevy S-10 Electric back on its feet, and shows just how far modern EV technology has come in the last quarter century. Check out the full video below:
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Comments
Those S-10s were built in the Shreveport, LA GM plant. Mainly targeted at fleet customers. Several years prior, I was at the Dallas New Car Shop and encountered on which Texas Electric (the main electricity provider in Dallas, TX) had had converted to electric power. The rep with the truck, when asked about charging, was very enthusiastic. He said described what would be a special EV charging power network, unique from each residence’s power supply, that could be cycled throughout the city after dark. One grid segment at a time. The way he talked about it, it would be easy to do! Painless, too, just drive in from day work, plug the vehicle in, it would be charged overnight, then unplug and go to work the next morning. Sounded neat, back then.
No issues of range were really talked about, but local use only, I suspect. Would work well for many municipal uses, other than law enforcement. No mention of recharging times or rates, either, just that “It works”.
That is how simple an EV should be. Check the history of the thousands of women who drove an early EV in the beginning of the 20th century (including Clare Ford, Henry’s wife) and loved their EVs which need no cranking to start, oil changes, engine tuning, or handling poisonous and foul smelling fuels. There were extremely correct, even now!
Unfortunately, ICE power still won out for much of the same reasons that still hold true to this day… ICE just works, with few compromises. EVs require a lifestyle change, and a lot of excuses about it’s shortcommings. EVs are still great for local, commuting-orreintated, daily short trips in warmer climents. ICE holds the advantage in nearly every other circumstance.
I believe I drove an early prototype electric powered LUV pickup at Chevrolet Engineering back in the mid 1970’s.