Who Killed the Electric Car?

[ToniCipriani]

Anyone seen this?

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/whokill...riccar/trailer/

[PurdueGuy]

had heard of the movie, hadn't seen the preview. Some neat pictures of the EV1 driving around, and I still like the idea of that paddle charger (inductive charging - no risk of shock)

[usonia]

I do want to see this movie, assuming it actually comes to a theater near me. Maybe the answer to this question is in the movie, but if not, do we know what the story is behind the destruction of all of the EV1's that GM built? It seems bizzare and a bit conspiratorial.

I know somone in California who had one and he fought like crazy to be able to keep it, but they wouldn't let him. He ended up with a new Prius and pretty much hates GM now.

[Black and Blue Landscaper]

i have seen a couple tailers for this movie and in one of them, some guy that is being interviewed attacks GM

[bobo]

I'm planning to see this movie once it shows up in local theaters, and it obviously will not put GM in a good light.

[bobo]

I finally saw the film, and it was quite compelling. The film probably was not totally objective, but it brought up many issues that the viewer can continue to investigate on his own.

I remember when the EV1 was on the market, there were ads in the paper for $499/month leases and also news stories about how demand for the vehicle was lacking. The film tries to portray that GM engineered a marvel of a vehicle, but management wanted the vehicle to fail, to demonstrate that there is no market for electric cars. The oil industry, CARB (California Air Resources Board), and the federal government are also assigned blame. Fuel cells and hydrogen fuel are portrayed as inefficient.

It still bothers me that GM took back all the EV1's and crushed them, unlike Toyota with the RAV4 EV and Ford with the Ranger EV. Toyota and Ford eventually relented to the leasees and let them keep them. Imagine if GM continued to develop the vehicles, especially in the current climate of $3+ a gallon gasoline. The film points out that Toyota and Honda started investing heavily in hybrid research because that was where GM was heading. The irony was that it was no longer a priority for GM as they put their focus on hydrogen.

The film ended on a positive note, showing a few seconds of upcoming electric vehicles, including the Tesla and the Venturi Fetish.

I remain a huge fan of electric cars, and I would like my next vehicle to be either a pure electric (powered by my roof's solar panels) or a plug-in hybrid, because these seem to be right around the corner. These vehicles aren't quite mainstream yet, but the technology is now here. It's just a matter of efficiencies of scale to get prices reasonable.

[Flybrian]

I would like to remind everyone of several significant EV1 variations. There was a gas turbine hybrid that had a range of 390 miles and a 0-60 time of 9 seconds and ran on virtually anything burnable.

Also, there was a parallel hybrid which feautred a 1.3l Isuzu turbodiesel, had a range of 550 miles, ran from 0-60 in seven seconds, and was technically all-wheel drive (AC and Diesel driving the rear axle, DC motor driving the front). Combined, that's 219hp.

The Prius is a castrated and empty excuse for a 'green' vehicle by comparison. 38mpg in a slow, cheaply-made embarrasingly ugly hatchback versus the equivalent of 80+mpg in a svelte and sleek rechargable car from tomorrow.

Damn GM for letting go...

[ToniCipriani]

Could we say GM just gave up too easily? Like Camaro, like EV1?

[tmp]

I was living here at the time of the whole thing. Despite having dedicated parking spots where you could park for free in areas of town (including primo parking on trendy Robertson Blvd and Montana Ave), there weren't that many takers for a lease on a car that could only go for a hundred miles or so without being recharged, especially at the price of that lease. Yes, the people who had the cars loved them, but when the CARB people resinded the need for the program, GM cut thier losses. Of course they took the cars back, if they didn't they'd have to support them or be open to a nice lawsuit down the road. I know that people want to make conspiracies because sometimes the truth is not that pretty, but the Mafia didn't kill JFK, the twin towers really didn't fall because of controlled demolition, and if there was a way for GM to have made money off electric cars, they wouldn't have flushed a billion dollar investment. The truth is, people in tree-hugging Cali wanted to spend that lease money on a Denali.