I had an EV-1 for 2.5 years. I transferred the last 6 months of my lease to somebody who desperately wanted to drive one, even briefly, before they all went to the crusher.
It was a very cool car, but it was definitely a bit of a science project. It did not have the feel of a real production car in many ways. The Model S is as far beyond the EV-1 as a Lexus is beyond a kit car.
Did GM lose money? Of course they did. They embarked on a substantial development project, but released only a tiny number of cars in what was in all respects a public beta test. Despite people loving the car and a well documented demand for more vehicles, they elected to shutter the program rather than continue to refine the design and produce more vehicles. So, all that development investment that could have been recouped had they pursued the program was instead discarded.
They tried to spin this closure of the program as "ooh, this program failed". They even sent somebody to the California Air Resources Board to claim that there was no demand for the cars and that they cars weren't well received. Fortunately, there were a heck of a lot of drivers (including yours truly) at that meeting to tell the drivers' perspective. In my opinion, Chris Paine did a real service in producing that film and getting a more balanced story out to a wider audience.
Little-known fact: GM actually built a serial hybrid prototype version of the EV-1, much like the Volt is today. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that some of the Volt's engineering derived from the EV-1 program. Just think what could have been if they hadn't basically abandoned the project for a decade.