In 1996, electric cars began to appear on roads all over California. They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust and ran without gasoline. Ten years later, these futuristic cars were almost entirely gone. What happened? Why should we be haunted by the ghost of the electric car?It begins with a solemn funeral…for a car. By the end of Chris Paine’s lively and informative documentary, the idea doesn’t seem quite so strange. As narrator Martin Sheen notes, “They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust and ran without gasoline.” Paine proceeds to show how this unique vehicle came into being and why General Motors ended up reclaiming its once-prized creation less than a decade later. He begins 100 years ago with the original electric car. By the 1920s, the internal-combustion engine had rendered it obsolete. By the 1980s, however, car companies started exploring alternative energy sources, like solar power. This, in turn, led to the late, great battery-powered EV1. Throughout, Paine deftly translates hard science and complex politics, such as California’s Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate, into lay person’s terms (director Alex Gibney, Oscar-nominated for Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, served as consulting producer). And everyone gets the chance to have their say: engineers, politicians, protesters, and petroleum spokespeople–even celebrity drivers, like Peter Horton, Alexandra Paul, and a wild man beard-sporting Mel Gibson. But the most persuasive participant is former Saturn employee Chelsea Sexton. Promoting the benefits of the EV1 was more than a job to her, and she continues to lobby for more environmentally friendly options. Sexton provides the small ray of hope Paine’s film so desperately needs. Who Killed the Electric Car? is, otherwise, a tremendously sobering experience. –Kathleen C. Fennessy
Stills from Who Killed the Electric Car? (click for larger image)
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Writer/Director Chris Paine Blogs About Who Killed the Electric Car
When Who Killed the Electric Car premiered at the Sundance Film Festival (on the same weekend as An Inconvenient Truth), we wondered whether movie goers were ready for a new kind of ‘action film’. Fortunately people jumped onboard and this seems even more true today.
We put this DVD together after the release of the film to include a dozen short scenes we couldn’t quite fit into our story. My favorite is one with Stan and Iris Ovshinsky who developed the revolutionary battery technology that powered GM’s electric car (and today’s Prius). These two brilliant octogenarians took our small camera crew on a Willy Wonka style tour of their inventions including the world’s largest thin film solar cell factory. As we stood under a football field size machine in Troy Michigan, I blustered “Is solar power back?” Stan exclaimed ” What?! Solar never went away… What was back was backward thinking!” And as his machine cranked out miles of solar cells above us, we knew he was right.
I’m especially glad that the optimistic last scene of Who Killed the Electric Car has proven that we weren’t just wishful thinkers when we finished our edit. The clips feature the first glimpse of the ultra fast Tesla electric sports prototype as well the Zenn neighborhood electric vehicle. Both cars are starting to roll off production lines today. And while the State of California (and some car companies) are still gambling on hydrogen fuel cells, plug-in cars are proving to be more environmentally efficient and popular. Early adopters deserve a lot of the credit. Oil companies and the internal combustion engine monopoly may have “killed” thousands of electric cars (EVs) in the 1990s, but EVs are coming back. (Stay tuned for next film…)
I hope you’ll find our documentary takes you on a wild ride out of the 20th century and into the 21st. –Chris Paine, Writer/Director
Buy “Who Killed the Electric Car?” For Only $7.76
April 3, 2008
#1
Who wants to buy an overpriced car that has a range of way under $100? When the laws of physics and the demands of the marketplace won’t bend to your green will then scrap the car and start over. That is why the Electric car died and not due to some oil conspiracy. This is yet another brain dead conspiracy theory film. It seems as if the participants who made the film all had an Electric car they were given or paid for on lease and could run around bragging how damned green they were, had their toy taken away and in revenge they made this “vehicle”.
BY THE WAY IT WASN’T A TRULY ZERO EMISSION CAR. YOU HAD TO MAKE THAT ELECTRICITY WITH SOMETHING.
April 3, 2008
#2
The technology does not work and now they blame it on the cooperations!
The movie itself is dull and boring!
April 3, 2008
#3
When will America realize that Japan’s propaganda machine is killing this country??? Republican Trent Lott got Toyota motor plant in Tenn and said you stay with us (GOP) and we will protect you. The GOP hates GM( the big 3) because the workers(UAW) vote democratic. The Japanese want high OIL because they know they will sell cars. They also have the BIG Tundra and Sequoia gas guzzlers. The Bush administration has pounded on the Auto’s since 2000 ( 3.2 million manufacturing jobs lost ) No good paying jobs makes America a more Dangerous place to live. There is a large group of paid lobbyist out there working for the Japanese to promote all their products. At the expense of millions of American jobs. The Japanese control their YEN by keeping their interest rates low creating a thing called carry trade with their currency. Their companies are all flushed with cash so they don’t have to borrow money. With interest rates at .50% that’s 1/2% investors come in and get the yen cheep, then buy investments that give a higher yield. So that keeps the YEN low making their products cheaper to dump in the US, making our companies layoff and open up operations overseas. Is this how Japan gets even?????
April 3, 2008
#4
The technology just wasn’t there. SIMPLE AS THAT! Batteries and fuel cells have not advanced far enough…YET. It will happen and the automakers(most like the Japanese) will cash in on it.
Do you people REALLY believe that Toyota, maker of your beloved Prius wouldn’t be hawking electric cars if they could? They’re working on it, I assure you.
By the way, the company that makes the “Wonderful” Prius, makes and sells more gas guzzling full size trucks and SUV’s worldwide than the “Evil” GM.
Enjoy!
April 3, 2008
#5
This is the typical Micahel Moore who dunnit nonsense? It does make you think, however. A load of tripe, overall.
This movie. GUILTY. The world does not revolve around California. The ME state. All about ME.
No data is ever mentioned in this documentary. BTW, NiMH batteries, nor any other technology is sufficient for the energy (duration) needed to run a pure EV for 300 mi. No mention of how much this technology costs for what little it does vs. conventional alternatives. Last time I checked, this a free market and this does not compete economicaly.
Has anybody mentioned the cycle life of batteries? They more you recharge and discharge the sooner you shorten the life of the batteries. Lead acid batteries need to be replaced every 3 years at a cost of ? Not mentioned. There’s a whole field of them in the back of the EV1.
NiMH batteries? $1500-5000 per pack. Life span? 8-10 years per calendar life, 3 years with daily use. Average car life cradle to grave: 15 years. Not my problem, let’s blame someone else when they are old. Lithium ion? even shorter and more expensive, plus like Sony’s laptop batteries, explode when uncomfortable. Then you have to recycle them or will people?
How about a manual transmission car driven properly with either biofuels and driven properly? Enviros are too lazy to learn the whole picture and understand physics and learn how to drive properly and efficiently like Europeans do. The automatic transmission throws away 8% efficiency off the engine power because it is not direct drive. The CVT wastes the same at highway speeds. A Prius would be more efficient if it was a manual clutch gearbox, but greenies are too lazy to learn how to drive properly and efficiently. They want a remote control and the ability to blame the manufacturer when it does not get 50 mpg.
Why on earth would the oil companies not support a business model that makes them sustainable? Electric does not do that. Why would they support it? Common sense. Do you really expect otherwise?
Does the car industry see a business model that can make them money even with economies of scale. No, not until battery technology improves.
An automatic Volvo gets the same mileage as an SUV, are these attacked? No. What’s the difference, both are owned by smug, wasteful people. Oh, one had good intentions that don’t matter.
Daytime running lights waste fuel, are annoying to other drivers, have absolutely no quantified benefit through any study that was not funded by safety activists, car companies, or lighting manufacturers. in fact, they are proven to increase safety issues, as they distract drivers focal points. Are there any efforts against this? No, this movie is worried too much about intentions rather than actions.
No mention of ethanol and biofuels and their benefits and issues. Too convenient.
Get a clue then make a movie.
A good example of people will believe anything from Hollywood.
BTW, I drive fuel efficient cars and find most of the automotive greenness to be uneducated. Take a Skip Barber course and learn how to drive, before pontificating.