Public Servant Lifestyle

A new documentary looks at the revolution that took place with the GM EV1 and asks whether the dream of an electric car are really over?

Who Killed The Electric Car?

Mention electric cars to someone in the UK and what’s likely to come to mind is either the ill-fated Sinclair C5, mobility four-wheelers or the slow milk floats that deliver dairy products in the small hours of the morning on suburban streets. In the USA though, a fully road worthy electric car has been a reality for almost a decade – with the advent of the General Motors (GM) EV1.

These clean, reliable, eco-friendly motors seem to have been loved by everyone who got to drive them and some thought they might be the first stage in a revolutionary shift towards electric motors. Now they’re seemingly gone for good – all recalled and destroyed. A new documentary looks at an extraordinary revolution that briefly took place in California asks whether the electric dreams are really over?

In 1996, electric cars began to appear on roads all over the U.S state of California. They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust and ran without gasoline. Ten years later, these cars were destroyed. If the first question that raises is: why? The second question has to be: whodunit?

“A timely take on an important topic.” - Reader’s Digest

New feature documentary Who Killed The Electric Car sets out to answer both of those questions directly – and comes to some startling – if predictable, given the players involved – conclusions…

It was among the fastest, most efficient production cars ever built. It ran on electricity, produced no emissions and catapulted American technology to the forefront of the automotive industry. The lucky few who drove it never wanted to give it up. So why did General Motors crush its fleet of EV1 electric vehicles in the Arizona desert?

Who Killed The Electric Car? chronicles the life and mysterious death of the GM EV1, examining its cultural and economic ripple effects and how they reverberated through the halls of government and big business.

A.O. Scott in The New York Times called the film: “…a prosecutorial examination of the role of oil companies, the automobile industry and the Bush administration (them again) in stymieing the development of emission-free electric vehicles.”

The story beignis sixteen years ago - the year is 1990 and the state of California is in a pollution crisis. Smog threatens public health. Desperate for a solution, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) targets the source of its problem: auto exhaust. Inspired by a recent announcement from General Motors about an electric vehicle prototype, the Zero Emissions Mandate (ZEV) is born. It required 2% of new vehicles sold in California to be emission-free by 1998, 10% by 2003. It is the most radical smog-fighting mandate since the catalytic converter.

Electric Revolution

With a jump on the competition thanks to its speed-record-breaking electric concept car, GM launches its EV1 electric vehicle in 1996. It was a revolutionary modern car, requiring no gas, no oil changes, no mufflers, and rare brake maintenance - a billion-dollar industry unto itself. A typical maintenance check-up for the EV1 consisted of replenishing the windshield washer fluid and a tire rotation. But the fanfare surrounding the EV1’s launch disappeared and the cars followed. Was it lack of consumer demand as carmakers claimed, or were other persuasive forces at work?

Fast forward to 6 years later...The fleet is gone. EV charging stations dot the California landscape like tombstones, collecting dust and spider webs. How could this happen? Did anyone bother to examine the evidence? Yes, in fact, someone did. And it was murder. The electric car threatened the status quo. The truth behind its demise resembles the climactic outcome of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express: multiple suspects, each taking their turn with the knife. Who Killed The Electric Car? interviews and investigates automakers, legislators, engineers, consumers and car enthusiasts from Los Angeles to Detroit, to work through motives and alibis, and to piece the complex puzzle together.

The film is not just about the EV1. It’s about how this allegory for failure —reflected in today’s oil prices and air quality—can also be a shining symbol of society’s potential to better itself and the world around it. While there’s plenty of outrage for lost time, there’s also time for renewal as technology is reborn in Who Killed The Electric Car?

The film’s Director Chris Paine makes no bones about why he made this film. “Here's what happened” he says: “I fell in love with my car. I've never been a car guy but that all changed when General Motors leased me its all-electric car, the EV1, in 1997. Designed by one of my childhood heroes, Paul MacCready, who had also designed some of the most famous airplanes in the world, the EV1 was truly 21st century. It was fast, quiet, ran without exhaust, and meant I never had to go to the gas station. It made me feel like the 21st century had arrived.

“I thought it would be my second car, but within days, it was my primary car. I drove it everywhere. And everywhere I went, people wanted to ride in it. $3 to fill up on electricity and you charged it overnight. I quickly joined the ranks of those who had driven and loved electric cars. But deep and mysterious currents were stirring. Politics, economics and corporate power stopped California's electric car program in its tracks. Then the carmakers started taking our cars off the road. I thought about stealing mine, but the prospect of a felony and legal fees gave me pause.

“So when our best efforts failed and our cars started disappearing, there was only one thing left I could think to do: get this apparently forgotten story to the press. Where were the major investigative news programs on this story? Not only had billions been invested, but hundreds of amazing engineers, citizens, politicians, and corporations had been involved in getting chargers installed and cars on the road all over California. And then I realized that no one had ever put the actual pieces of this puzzle together. And no one was going to. What began as a series of questions began to turn the story into a murder mystery. Some of the evidence in this story still shocks me.”

Addiction

He concludes: “As we put the whole chain of events together, I realized our tale was a lot more then just a car story. It demonstrated why America is having such a tough time getting out of the 20th century and breaking its addiction to gasoline.”

The filmmaker has interviewed a number of heavy weight names for this investigation. Among the face making on-screen appearances in the film are: S. David Freeman: Former Energy Advisor to Jimmy Carter, Tom Everhart, Ph.D: former General Motors (GM) board member (1989 – 2002), Dave Barthmuss: GM Communications spokesman, Jim Boyd: Executive Officer, California Air Resources Board (1981-96), Alan Cocconi: Drive System Engineer, Impact (EV1 prototype), Edward H. Murphy, Ph.D. of the American Petroleum Institute, Dan Neil: Auto Critic of the Los Angeles Times, Bill Reinert: National Manager of Advanced Technologies at the Toyota Motor Corporation USA and numerous famous and not-so famous former drivers and fans – as well as a few foes - of the electric car.

Here are a few of the things the critics in the US and UK have had to say about the film so far:

“Who Killed The Electric Car? and An Inconvenient Truth serve as a powerful and important one two punch!” - Michael Moore.

“A quietly shocking indictment of our gas-guzzling auto companies and the petro-politicians who love them.” - Karen Durbin, ELLE Magazine

"A compelling wake-up call for all of us. This film reveals not only that practical alternatives to rising energy prices and environmental crises are at hand, but that we can also break our addiction to oil." - Matt Petersen, Executive Director, Global Green USA

"Who Killed The Electric Car? shows how the auto, oil and other powerful industries fought and killed a clean alternative to the gas guzzler. Americans should heed this film's clarion call for action to fight global warming and the cabal of polluters which threaten our climate." - Dan Becker, Director, Sierra Club Global Warming Program.

“GM killed off its own electric car, but it can’t kill the huge demand for cleaner cars that don’t leave us dependent on Middle East oil. Unfortunately, it's GM workers who are now paying for management’s shortsightedness with their jobs.” - Roland Hwang, Vehicles Policy Director, Natural Resources Defense Council.

“If global warming and imminent demise of future generations or the ongoing oil war in Iraq don’t do it for you, perhaps Chris Paine’s documentary on the subject will give you a swift kick in the accelerator. Paine attempts a balanced hand by interviewing enthusiasts and corporate geeks, and laying out the facts and figures for all to see. Both a love letter and a tale of vengeance, Paine’s sharp detail and wounded subtext make for a powerful exploration into the folly of man.” - Shari Roman, FLAUNT Magazine

“Deftly cuts through the smog of corruption to explain why GM’s EV-1, once poised to diminish dependence on oil and reduce CO2 emissions, never made it out of beta.”
-Tim Grierson - WIRED Magazine

“After seeing Chris Paine’s inspiring documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?, you’ll take one look at your SUV and gulp with embarrassment...Beautifully crafted, wonderfully narrated, with hysterical interviews from the most colorful of characters...the film is an important lesson in the workings of public manipulation, and a demonstration on how industry giveth—and taketh away. - Clark Harding, Frontiers Magazine

“Every once in a while, a movie comes along that makes you wish you could change the facts. With gas prices topping three bucks a gallon, I bet others will watch this movie and think: “I could’ve had an EV1.” - Valerie Block, Crain's New York Business.

“The most troubling big-biz documentary since “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.” - John Hartl, The Seattle Times .

"After seeing An Inconvenient Truth, go see this film. Who Killed the Electric Car? is a gripping story about how the car companies defeated California's zero emissions dream. - Greenpeace U.S Energy Specialist John Coequyt, Greenpeace.

Who Killed The Electric Car? is doing the rounds of some arthouses still and is currently available as a Region 1 DVD - with a region 2 release imminent. Rated U the DVD is presented in its original widescreen 16:9 version, featuring Dolby Digital (5.1) sound and the following extras:

More information available in Eco Motoring, Dream Machines, Film, DVD / Home Video