Chris Paine General Motors EV1	Ward Paine Honda EV PLUS
After college, I knew the first new car I would buy would be electric. GM's "Impact," offered promise several years ago, but it took until 1997 (and thankfully a renaming) to bring the EV1 to market. And, as a Los Angeles resident (chalk one up for LA), I had an early chance to lease one. My call to action came when prices dropped (thanks in part to a California state credit) to $399 a month. I test drove the car at a Saturn dealership in May, 1997 and was ecstatic. The EV1 was clean, quiet, fast, sleek, and best of all- electric. It took six months of wrangling with my landlord who refused to allow a charger at the building "because I don't have to", but at last, he relented. I chose the EV1 over the alternatives (Honda, Toyota, independents) because the EV1 marketing team was completely helpful and available, the price was right, inductive charging stations were appearing, most of my driving was under 50 miles, and it inspired me. My final cost was $1839 for delivery, $1134 for installation of the Edison charger, and $432 in monthly payments for 3 years. In all about $17,500 for my personal use of next generation car design technology. Yes please.	I committed myself to buying an electric vehicle in early 1997 when I sold off a "special car" I had built for myself after seventeen years of use. I had expected I would be buying the GM EV1 as that car was already offered for sale in LA and AZ. However, in November of 1997, I saw a one page advertisement in the San Jose, CA paper announcing the availability of the Honda EV PLUS. I called the GM EV1 representative in LA and expressed my interest in leasing their EV and was told it was coming 'soon' to Northern California, no date set, maybe in early 1998. The GM people offered to let me try out the EV1 for a weekend in LA when I was there on business and that I did. I liked it. However, the Honda was available now, the GM-iffy. I drove the Honda and liked it a lot although the engineering concept, the style and design of the body, plus GM's emphasis on the infrastructure, made the two cars unbelievably UN-alike. I took delivery of the Honda EV PLUS December 14,1997.