These Are Some Modern EVs You Probably Never See Anymore

The GM EV1 was an early attempt at a production EV that was only ever offered on specialized lease deals so General Motors could maintain ownership of every car. Ultimately, GM took back every EV1 that was leased and destroyed them. You can still see a couple EV1s at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, and at a few other musuems.

There were two generations of fully electric RAV4, this first-generation which actually used the same powertrain as the GM EV1, and one based on a third-generation RAV4 which was built in collaboration with Tesla. Southern California Edison, the power company that has a monopoly over the SoCal region, still uses some of these first-generation RAV4 EVs in its fleet, but otherwise they’re a rare sight on public roads.

The Focus Electric was a handsome little EV that didn’t look entirely different than the internal combustion Focus. Unfortunately, as was the case with most of these early EV conversions, it had a very low range estimate despite some battery upgrades throughout its lifetime. It went from a whopping 76-mile range to a maximum of 115 miles on a charge.

Similar to the Focus, the Volkswagen e-Golf suffered from a maximum range estimate of 125-miles on a charge. It existed at the same time as the Chevrolet Bolt which had significantly longer range for a similar price and package, which further hurt its popularity, and longevity on modern roads. There are some staunch fans of the e-Golf, though, but it’s become a cult car now, since battery degradation has likely rendered most of them as exclusively city cars.

The Smart ForTwo was already a tough sell to Americans, and then the brand went and named the electric one the ED, which for those of you who didn’t grow up laughing at nighttime tv commercials, is the same acronym used to for erectile dysfunction. Being built on such a diminutive platform severely restricted the space available for a large battery, which ended up limiting the Smart ForTwo ED’s range to double digits. The second-generation ForTwo also received an electric powertrain with slightly increased range estimates, but it never sold in big numbers. Now they’re a quirky little oddity on American roads.

I love knowing that Mercedes sold a B-Class in the USA, though it was exclusively offered as an EV. The three-pointed star only managed to sell just over 3,500 units in the U.S. throughout its production run, so if you see one on the road now it’s a definite oddity. Unfortunately it shared the Smart ForTwo’s Electric Drive naming scheme that was shortened to ED.

The Fiat 500e was sold for a long time, but shared the challenge that faced Smart with a tiny platform that forced the range estimates to remain low. Americans love long ranges, so these tiny electric city cars that may work great in the tiny streets of Italy don’t usually translate well with American buyers. As time goes on and the range degrades in these adorable little commuters, fewer owners are likely to find them useful, and I’ve noticed a steep drop in the number of cute little Fiat 500e’s on the road. The “new” 500e is back for 2024, but still offers low range estimates when compared to similarly priced competitors.

I’m a Mini guy, but I always get excited when I manage to spot an electric Mini. It’s another case of a small car, which is already a tough sell to most blue-blooded, truck-lovin’ Americans, and add to that an electric-only range that barely breached the 100-mile mark. These factors limited the electric Mini’s appeal, though there does seem to be quite a few used examples and new examples available for sale online.

A commonality among most of these sub-compact cars that were converted to use electric powertrains is that most of them are a lot cuter than their ICE counterparts. The Fit EV has an adorable little face, but most of the remaining Fit EVs’ already low range has probably degraded to the point that it’s not practical for most drivers.

It’s been a long time since I’ve spotted a Soul EV in the wild, and it doesn’t feel like that long ago when I used to see them on a daily basis. Kia decided to discontinue the Soul EV in the U.S. to allow the Kia Niro EV to flourish, but I think it’s a shame that the electric and ultra-practical box-on-wheels was cast asunder. Like most of the cars on this list, its low range has likely degraded further, limiting its appeal to used car buyers.

The Ford Ranger EV was a very limited production attempt at an electric pickup, but it was never intended for the big leagues. Ford made about 1,500 units, and due to the nature of the battery technology at the time, it severely limited the truck’s payload capacity. Its lead-acid batteries only gave it a 50-ish mile range, and its payload was limited to 700 pounds.

The Hyundai Ioniq Electric was not an unpopular car, but I see significantly more Ioniq hybrids than electric models on the road today. Hyundai changed its EV naming scheme after the Ioniq, so now the name is followed by numbers on new models, but since the Ioniq EV is still relatively new, buying a used one would be a great deal.

The Mitsubishi i-MiEV was not a car designed for America, but Mitsubishi boldly brought it to our shores in hopes of making a splash. It ended up being one of the worst selling cars of all-time, and the slowest car on sale in America. It was slow, had a very low range, and charged slowly, so it was a tough sell when new, let alone after a decade of use. I want one desperately.

The Spark EV was a placeholder before Chevrolet rolled out the first Bolt EV, and it served to help General Motors meet corporate emissions standards. It was actually quite peppy, with about 400 lb-ft of torque motivating the tiny car, and a 0-60 time of 7.9 seconds. It was only sold in limited markets, and they’re a rare sight on todays roads despite being adorable.

The Chevy S10 EV was the world’s first electric pickup, and used a similar powertrain to the one in the EV1. Unfortunately, it had a range that remained around the 50-mile mark, and it was only offered on lease for around 500 units that were taken back by GM and crushed like the EV1s. About 60 were sold outright to fleets, so the number remaining on the road is extremely low.