Buyers Energized By Electric Car Prospects

General Motors Corp. won’t begin selling electric cars until next fall, but buyers already are lining up.

“People have actually given us checks,” Saturn President Donald Hudler said Friday.

GM announced Jan. 4 that its Saturn dealers would be selling battery-powered GM EV1 cars later this year. The EV1 is expected to be priced at about $35,000.

“I had a guy on opening day actually pull out a check book and try to give me a check,” Hudler told reporters at a briefing on Saturn operations. “It’s still several months away, but we have a surprising number of bona fide prospects.”

The EV1, which will have a top speed of 80 mph and a range of 60 to 70 miles under normal usage, will be built in Lansing, Mich.