At the time Chevrolet designed and built this electric vehicle, other automobile manufacturers were doing the same, trying to comply with a law in California that mandated that a certain percentage of new vehicles sold had to have zero emissions. Unfortunately, a few years later, California changed the law and in response, automobile manufacturers discontinued their electric vehicle programs. When the leases on the electric vehicles expired, the car companies collected the leased vehicles and destroyed them (check out the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car").

While LifeSource's Chevrolet S-10EV looks just like the gasoline version of the S-10, under the hood it is substantially different. The S-10EV has good acceleration and can go 70 mph, with a driving range per charge of approximately 50 miles depending on driving conditions. With an electric (instead of gasoline) motor it can go long distances without needing servicing, not to mention the benefit of zero emissions. Producing the electricity to charge the batteries does generate emissions, but these are far less than what is produced by a car burning gasoline driving the same distance.