The evening of March 27, 1996, started like so many others for Ken Baker in those days — with a snag.
On his way out the door for his birthday dinner, Baker, who had shepherded General Motors' electric vehicle program from its infancy, received a phone call from workers at the factory in Lansing, Mich., where the long- awaited EV1 was supposed to soon enter production. There was a problem, they said. Serious. Better come quick.
GM had been beset by years of technical challenges and financial calamity that nearly scuttled the program, so Baker had grown accustomed to complications and curveballs. Yet the EV1 stood on the cusp of production. What now?