Who Killed The Electric Car?
Directed by: Chris Paine
Narrated by: Martin Sheen
When gas prices hit an all-time high last summer in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, most of us just accepted it and went about our daily business. But if you step back and think about it, such a plight seems absolutely ludicrous. In this age of amazing technological achievement, how is it possible that we are still a slave to crude oil for the majority of our transportation needs? Every other industry has made amazing innovations in the past few decades, and yet somehow cars are still stuck in the dark ages. What gives?
Here we have another somewhat political documentary that tackles one of the most promising transportation alternatives ever to come about: the electric car. But wait a minute… did you even know that such a thing existed outside of science-fiction movies? I have vague recollections of hearing about cars that could be plugged in and charged overnight, but I had never actually seen one until now.
It wasn’t that long ago (the late 90’s to be exact) that GM actually manufactured an initial run of electric cars (a model known as the EV1) that were leased and driven by a small group of people in California at the time. Although the cars definitely had a few kinks to work out (they couldn’t travel long distances, for example), they would have been refined and improved on these details with future models. The big advantage was an obvious one — no reliance on gas, and absolutely no pollution! Unfortunately, newer models never came, and once the EV1 leases were up, GM recalled them and every single unit disappeared from the road.
What happened to the EV1, and why did such a significant invention never find its way into the hands of consumers? It turns out that’s not such an easy question to answer, but it’s one that director Chris Paine decided to explore in Who Killed The Electric Car?
I was a bit unsure about this movie, especially since I had assumed the answer to the above question was obvious. Oil companies rubbed out the EV1 because it was going to cut into their profits, end of story, right? While that certainly is a part of the story, the truth is not quite so cut and dried. The car itself was created in order to satisfy a mandate passed in California requiring that at least 2% of new cars be emission-free by 1998. Strangely, that mandate was never upheld. Clearly there were government officials who were responsible on some level as well.
We start off with interviews from EV1 owners, who generally have nothing but praise for the vehicle. As you might expect with a car that was only released in California, we also hear from a few celebs who owned them, including a rather wacky Mel Gibson (sporting his “Apocalypto” beard), and Tom Hanks (who talks about his EV1 only in clips from an appearance on Letterman). We also meet some of the GM employees who were involved in the EV1 project, from engineers to technicians to PR people, many of whom lost their job when the EV1 was cancelled.
While the testimonials help to build up some emotional ties to the car, the thing that drew me in most about this documentary is the mystery of where the cars actually went. After GM recalled the cars, there were reports of them being stored in fleets at various GM plants, unused. There are some exciting scenes where the filmmakers try to follow the cars as GM is shipping them away in trucks, and later use a helicopter to fly over a restricted area to see what is being done to the cars. Believe it or not, they were actually being crushed up and used for parts, which is a pretty powerful moment in the film. (GM did literally “kill” the electric car.) This eventually leads EV1 devotees to picket outside another GM storage facility and attempt to save the cars by offering to buy them on the spot.
Later in the movie they examine the potential “suspects” that could be blamed for the death of the EV1, and give a judgment on each. One of the eye-opening things for me was the portrayal of the hydrogen fuel cell as a Bush administration red herring, that is, a “pie in the sky” technology being pursued solely to keep up appearances with environmentalist groups. I’m not sure if this is entirely true, but it certainly makes the electric car seem even more important, and its loss so much more tragic.
I would have liked to see a bit more analysis of the marketing of electric cars, since there was a lot of speculation as to whether or not consumer demand was actually there. One of the TV commercials they showed for the EV1 was abysmal, and there were some indications that GM never tried to pushed it on the public at all. Shortly after the EV1 was abandoned, GM embraced the Hummer as the next must-have vehicle for Americans, clearly with a lot more success. I’m a big believer that marketing people can get consumers to buy just about anything, so I find it hard to accept the excuse that the EV1 simply didn’t meet people’s needs.
Overall, I’m not much of a car junkie, but I am interested in the future and as such this movie had me hooked. It doesn’t get very technical, nor does it get very personal, but it’s still manages to spin a surprisingly good yarn. Who Killed The Electric Car? plays out very similar to Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, in that it will probably succeed in infuriating you as it progresses and yet you can’t stop watching. This movie is not just for conspiracy nuts, this movie is for anyone who cares about the environment and about having a market where consumers are truly free to choose the products they want. I’m sure it’s too late for this movie to make a difference as far as the EV1 is concerned, but we can only hope it helps prevent another great invention from being squandered ever again. — Sean
Excellent review and your description of how the film infuriates as it progresses is so true. I had to drag a couple of friends to see it with me and by the time the credits rolled, we were still sitting there discussing.
As for the marketing, I’m not sure it was poor. True, a lot of people, myself included, didn’t know this car ever existed but after discussion with a few other folks, I came to find out that the car was also well marketed in Vancouver with an extensive waiting list (my partner was #896 on the list and he still has a letter from GM regarding the wait) but the cars never came.
What really angered me is that there’s constant talk of hybrid vehicles and what a huge achievement they are when the technology for an all electric car was available years ago and ‘they’ let it die.
The government doing this is nothing new. Google “Tucker Automobile” and see the similarities.
Watched “Who Killed the Electric Car” recently (great documentary), then i heard that GM and Tesla are making another run at the electric car (yay for progress!) hopefully development of this technology can go on unhindered by the corporations that depend on oil consumption.
Leave GM everybody is jumping and there are experts in ZEV’s like ZAP!
I agree for ZAP !
The Electric Car committed suicide! It just did not have the range, speed and quick charging of a gasoline car. The movie was one sided. Still, elctric cars have their place. A critical view of electric cars plus information on how to build an electric car, including cost cutting measures and design tips, can be found at: http://www.ElectricCarSociety.com There is also a great history of elctric cars and even how to build an electric car.
What Really Happened to the Electric Car?
I hope everyone that reads this will take the time to see the video entitled, ”Who Killed The Electric Car”. (available on the net) With all the emphasis on the economy, pollution, fuel prices, and war, what could be described as the biggest lie told to the American people, is the story about the electric car. There was a viable and practical solution to most, if not all of these problems(given enough time and ingenuity) . The electric car was a mandated pollution solution made possible by the state of California. Unfortunately, the state was outgunned by a combination of the auto industry and the oil industry. There just wasn’t enough money to be made(at least in the short term) with this “invention“ for all involved. If the electric car that was built in 1996, was at the very least made possible to be acquired by the “normal person”, today would have meant many more improvements to the original design. It was clear that the vehicle was well received by the individuals who were either lucky or wealthy enough to acquire one of them. They could only be leased and you somehow had to prove you were worthy of one. They were never advertised to the masses. What was the reason for a non-advertising campaign of a much needed proven product that was never given a chance? What would seduce an auto company, or companies, to gather up all their leased cars and chew them up into little pieces like they had some disease or something? The auto industry and the oil industry together, have made us dependant on fuel burning vehicles. It all has to do with the amount of money to be made with the reserves of oil left in the earth today. Oil changes, filters, and maintenance on the “engines” , all played a part in the amount of revenues to be lost by both parties involved if they proceeded with this new program. But the more pressing question to be answered is why the federal government sat by and allowed all of this to happen. We always hear about our dependence on oil being a major problem. The answer in part, was the electric car. Not everyone would be accepting of the the electric car, just as not everyone would be interested in one model of car or another, but in the end, it wouldn’t have to take everybody to make a difference. Just having the option available would make all the difference in the world as for as oil prices going up and down. If the auto industry wants a bailout plan, it should be made on the condition that they will start producing the electric car for the masses. They had the plan for their future in their hands, and ours too, but they blew it. They blew it big. Now as we watch our kids drive around in their play “electric cars”, they tell us that their cars are eco-friendly. All we can do is tell them that someday, ours will be eco friendly too. If President Obama is serious about our future, and our security as a nation, this could be one fine place to start.
If the EV1 produced in 1996 was made available to the mainstream public, today would have meant more advances in technology, hence better performance. You have to remember that it was not mass-marketed to the nation as a whole. I only remember reading about it in newspapers/trade magazines and the likes. So, would people have been interested in it? We will never know. The electric car will be making a comeback soon. Not because of pollution, the energy crisis, or the economy, but because sooner or later, the auto companies will come to realize that they have no other choice. Either change the future for them and the public, or just simply go out of business.When the wright Bros. flew the first plane in public view,they didn’t take it out back and shred it up, fearing what might happen if the idea “take off”.I would hope an American Co. might take the lead in this area since we have been depending on other nations for advancements in technology for far too long. What built this nation strong is our free will and ability to turn that ideal into a way to advance and prosper. The time for quick profit turnarounds are soon becoming obselete.Corporations paying millions to executives(whether they do a good job or not)will soon be a thing of the past. When the early inventors were thinking about and working with their new ideas, I don’t think that the “bottom dollar” was the first thing on their minds. They were just trying to make the thought turn into reality.The reality was here in the electric car ,and for some odd reason, I just feel a little ripped off.No, I feel alot ripped off!
We had to watch this in class recently, and compare it to Al Gore’s an Inconvenient Truth. This movie was put together so much better with a far clearer presentation fo the facts. While Gore used unclear statistics etc(http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba561/)Electric Car does a fairly good job of thoroughly analyzing the situation and what really happened.
I want an Electric Car.
hey watch this movie its great! i cried alot!
Angus Mackenzie states that “GM didn’t kill the electric car. Big oil didn’t kill the elecric car. The EV1 was dead on arrival.” I would have to disagree. Many said that the advertisement was weak. However even though I personaly was not aware of the existense of the EV1 many others were completely aware. After watching “Who Killed the Elecric Car” I found out that the car was marketed world wide. Waiting list were created, many of which were celeberties.
I saw the EV1 documentary this weekend and it seemed to raise some interesting questions. I am all in favor of electric cars and actually have looked into converting an old Suzuki Samurai to an electric power train. It wouldn’t work with the Samurai just like it didn’t work with the EV1. In spite of how convincing the documentary was a little research quickly revealed it cost around 100k to make and was leased with a price tag of around 35k. That’s a 65k loss for GM or a hefty subsidy. I hope that one day electric cars are practical, and people making documentaries do their due diligence to present the whole picture.