Who Killed the Electric Car?

As a former engineer with both GM and Ford, I have to thoroughly refute what a previous commenter has stated about likely explanations. With the technology of the powertrain/fuel source development that far along, that far advanced within a viable vehicle, crash-safety and equipment regulations would not have removed this from the marketplace. The "skin" and tub/framework of the vehicle would have been either reworked to comply or the powertrain/fuel source would have been adapted to fit existing car lines that meet crash-safety and equipment regulations. There are plenty of examples of "hurry up" retro-fits in Detroit/Dearborn's history. Unfortunately there is much documented history of technology being quashed, patents being bought and buried, innovations left by the wayside to discourage change, discourage having to retool, reinvent, reinvest...and if you don't think that auto/oil/gov are all complicit in this, how naive can one be? GM and the railroads, the Tucker, fuel injection, Wankel engine, anti-lock brakes...all quashed by powerful companies and people not wanting change no matter what the benefit would be in safety, society, or the environment.

Director Chris Paine is no dummy. As a onetime owner of an electric car (the EV1) and a savvy filmmaker, he has quadruple checked his facts—and they are alarming. Although the electric car obviously depends upon coal or oil for its power, electricity is far cleaner than gasoline in the long run with less carbon output. Additionally, the batteries are recyclable, and electric cars make fewer demands in other environmental ways: There are no oil changes, oil filters, spark plugs and other parts and services that conventional autos require. Each of these parts carries its own environmental cost.

See this film. It has nothing to do with the current price of gas and everything to do with corruption on many levels.

I don't have many documentaries to my credit as far as how many I've watched, but I thought this was great. Part of its appeal was its bringing to light an issue that was either completely unknown to most Americans, or otherwise forgotten. If you consider the parameters surrounding the short lived electric car, then it is easy to see how many of us wouldn't even have known there was a killer of the electric car. Consider that there were few made by GM, Ford, and Honda. Consider that they were only released in California and Arizona. Consider that in those markets not many were sold. And finally, consider that none of the car companies spent much money or effort into advertising these vehicles, then you can see how so many of us were largely ignorant of the plight of the electric car.

This documentary was very informative and fact driven which I appreciate. Sure, politics played some role in it all, but when doesn't politics play a role in major issues? This documentary really be-smudged GM, but since I'm not a GM enthusiast, it didn't bother me one bit. I'd even go so far as to say that this documentary was the only thing that actually made me feel guilty about owning a Hummer. SUV's are my only environmental vice. I recycle, I don't litter, I try to stay away from aerosols, and I generally do what I can... except when it comes to SUV's.

It was interesting to see the active annihilation of the electric car. One can only wonder what the advances in electric vehicles would be if they were to have remain in production. Everyone knows how resourceful and inventive humans can be. Given the right incentive (money), there would probably have been about a dozen upgrades to the electric car and the infrastructure from '96 til now. And to think my home state of California had the chance to be the thorn in the side of the auto industry to effect change but then blinked, only goes to show just how mighty the oil and auto industries are. But I still believe that the electric car will make a second coming. Because if the environment is not enough of an incentive for people to make a change, gas prices certainly will be.

A look into the anticipated introduction of electric cars in the mid '90s to their mysterious recall a few years later. The documentary talks to former electric car owners, government personnel and others while examining the automobile industry and the laws that around it. All trying to draw a conclusion about why this clean, efficient, sleek yet affordable vehicle was pushed from the market in the midst of global warming and rising gasoline prices.

The film presents an interesting and largely hidden topic. Giving a brief history of the electric car, which interestingly used to be more popular than gasoline based cars (!!!!), it will leave most viewers scratching their head and wanting to know more. The resulting investigation is surprisingly large in scope and encompasses many things from the highest echelons of government right down to average Joe. All in a brisk 91 minutes.

However, the film is not just interesting, it addresses many concerns that have been rising faster and faster for a while now, which makes it also an important documentary. --- 9/10

Rated PG: "brief mild language." That's funny, Jaws, with all of it's terror, gore and death is rated PG too.

This film WILL frustrate you greatly. It's that simple. All of this talk about cars of the future with hydrogen fuel cells in 15 or 20 years from now is ridiculous. The car of the future was here, and they killed it. I won't say the first cars were perfect, but remember that NASA blew up a lot of rockets before getting it right, same with electric cars. The first ones could only do approx 80-100 miles on a charge. Most of us only commute that far to work, and these cars would have served us perfectly. Without one drop of gas. Battery technology has improved tremendously since then, and even while the EV was in production there were improvements. Mr. Paine presents a surprisingly balanced film that time and again exhibits mans' greed, stupidity, shortsightedness and another excellent example of American corporate stupidity. I firmly believe that General Motors would not be in the financial hole it is currently in if it continued exploring the electric car program. You have to start somewhere and GM, Ford, Toyota and Honda were the trailblazers and they all did it. Electric cars were built that not only worked, but worked well, and only would get better as battery technology improved. They did it because the State of California forced them to. The automakers pushed back and California blinked. It's no wonder that shortly thereafter all of the electric car programs were killed and the quiet destruction of most of the cars began. Some survived and are still in use. (An electric Toyota RAV4 sold on eBay in April 2006 for $60,000.) This film is successful not because of a political leaning one way or the other, but because of the flagrant lack of common sense on display by most parties, and on that level it's extremely frustrating because we have the technology to start reducing our dependence on oil now.