Who Killed The Electric Car? (DVD, 2006)

My husband brought in the mail on Friday night, excited about what movie might be in the Netflix envelope. He seemed little disappointed that I had added yet another documentary to our rental list! I had read good reviews and figured he’d be interested since he’s an automotive technician.

After we got the kids in bed, we sat down to watch Who Killed the Electric Car? and found it to be extremely engaging and informative! It really opened our eyes because we had never really spent much time researching alternative forms of transportation. Since my husband is a mechanic for Chrysler, I had gone online and found they had a hybrid in production, but my quest for information had stopped there.

This movie really brought home the fact that the technology for the car we need–a car with zero emissions–is available today and has been for more than 100 years. Seeing this DVD actually left me in tears, something I didn’t expect to happen with this type of documentary. The sight of the electric cars that General Motors had taken from the consumers and crushed made me want to take action. The documentary features footage of a vigil held by EV1 activists before the last 78 were destroyed by General Motors as well as multiple interviews with experts, consumer advocates, and celebrities.

We were especially interested in the fact that just about any car can be converted from gas to electric! It’s not cheap, but it’s doable! It’s something my husband could do for us if we had the extra money. I mentioned that he should learn how to do gas to electric conversions because there might be a demand here in the Orlando area. I found various books and websites dedicated to the topic, so concerned citizends certainly don’t have to sit around and wait for the automotive companies to bring back electric cars. They can convert cars themselves, buy them online, or have them converted!

The film also addresses the fact that the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle is an inferior alternative to the electric car, proving that lots of tax dollars are, in my opinion, being wasted on research and production. See the Hype about Hydrogen for more information.

Who Killed the Electric Car? is available on DVD and has been shown on PBS. Segments are available on You Tube as well. The writer and director, Chris Payne, is currently working on a sequel.

In 1992 General Motors built a great little electric car called the EV1. They built 1000 of them, and put them out on lease. Nearly everybody who got one loved it, and begged GM to sell it to them when the lease was up. Instead GM took them all back and crushed them. Their claim was that people were not happy with the range of about 100 miles per charge, with the batteries of the time. In fact, GM nearly doubled the range just within the course of the year or 2 that they made them.

In 2006 Chris Paine made a documentary film about this car, and the circumstances surrounding it. It is an epose type of film that GM and the oil companies hated, of course. If you are a member of the vast right–wing conspiracy, you will probably think that this movie was made by hippies and commies to cause trouble for the US carmakers, but in fact it was filmed well before oil prices started spiking and was really intended to show that the car was just the right thing at the right time.

In the film, a wide variety of people are interviewed: drivers, battery inventors, salespeople, etc. The film makes a good case for the car as a strong prototype that was quickly ramping up to be a real contender. As with any new technology, rapid evolution of components and economies of scale would have reached a tipping point relatively quickly, if GM produced the cars fast enough, and particularly if the government kicked in with technological help and financial subsidies.

This film is well worth watching, and joins the ranks of interesting evidence of how and what people can do to make life better. Personally, I would love to own an electric car, I have wanted one since the first Arab oil embargo occurred when I was in college. I assumed at the time that it was 5–10 years away, and that has stretched to 10–20 and stayed there ever since ever since. Hey guys, JUST DO IT !

SEE WHAT THE OIL COMPANIES, GM, THE CALIFORNIAN GOVERNMENT, THE BUSH FAMILY, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, AND EVERY OTHER MAJOR CAR COMPANY DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT!

Before watching "Who Killed the Electric Car?" I never knew that GM, along with every other major auto company, made fully 100% electric cars more than 10 years ago - selling them in California for a period of time before oil companies came in and did their best to end the program. In the end, they did what they did best - with the help of their front man Alan Lloyd - permanently ending the electric car program.
Today, every auto company in the world is struggling to come up with a fully electric car. The reality is they all have in the past and don't want to reintroduce the idea to the public, for the interests of the big oil companies - which the movie does a great job of portraying. For example, GM has worked so hard on the new Chevy Volt, when the reality is GM already had a fully 100% electric car more than 10 years ago, the EV1. Don't tell me that technology just vanished! They've purposely delayed the Volt's program for so many years, and even after introducing the new car we find out it's pretty much an overpriced hybrid.
The movie is mainly around the EV1 cars, which were all taken back by GM and destroyed to leave no evidence about them ever existing. The movie was very interesting, and I highly recommend everyone to watch this very true documentary about the truth about electric cars in the US.
I could guarantee you that the cost of this movie, no matter how much, won't even come close to how much you spend on a tank-full of gas. The information in this movie is definitely worth in the thousands, if not more.

This movie is an examination of how GM purchased, then killed, a very viable totally electric car model. It is fairly balanced in its views, although does show a small bias towards the ecological benefits of the vehicle, and, while the technology is not perfect, a mass-produced vehicle like this would go a LONG way towards improving the environment and cutting the dependence of the US on crude oil.
I found it annoying for several reasons.
1) It was such a blatent corporate move to eliminate new technology that would cut down on the profits from existing and old technologies that GM had so much invested in.
2) It highlights, again, the shortsightedness of American business and investors. The investors expect continual growth every quarter, which forces the companies to take actions that will be detrimental to them in the long run, but, in the short run, produce those quarterly profits.
3) It rubs the viewer's nose in the fact that, thanks to these poor business decisions, we, the consumers, have had an excellent alternative choice for transportation taken away from us. In these days of fuel prices hovering around $3.50/gallon, a totally electric car is VERY attractive.
4) There are a few subjective opinions expressed in the movie against some forms of power generation (specifically, the nuclear option) that leap out as unfortunate prejudice.
On the positive side, this is a well made, and interesting movie that raises many topics for debate, and, should be watched and thought about by a LOT more Americans than have seen it. I did enjoy the movie quite a bit, even if it did make me want to throw a brick through the screen a few times.
Dave Mundt

This is a well made documentary showing the indomitable spirit of American innovation and ingenuity, as well as America’s broken political system and dysfunctional brand of capitalism. It sadly shows what happens when powerful entities like the oil industry and the automobile industry team up to kill something they see as a threat to their profit margins. It is unfortunate that profit and corporate interests are allowed to take precedence over America’s national security and its economic well being.

The movie shows clear evidence of its claims and gives a fair and balanced assessment, and it’s fun to watch. It doesn’t even feel like you’re watching a documentary. It feels more like you’re watching a great story whose final chapter has not been written. The movie has interviews with passionate people taking about important topics such as energy, the future of transportation and national security, and the sound track is pretty great too. Every American should see this movie!