Initial Reaction: "I feel so used."The documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? begins on a bitter note: It shows us a long line of EV1 (electric) cars in a funeral procession--for their own funeral. At this point, I felt like the filmmakers were just being a bit dramatic. A funeral? For a car? Doesn't seem necessary. Even a little over-the-top. Then I found out that this "funeral" wasn't just staged for the dramatic effect of this documentary; it was actually held by a large number of EV1 owners, and for the obvious reason: their cars had been killed. What better way to mourn the loss of something you love?
Who Killed the Electric Car? Is a fascinating documentary about this story. The people that took part in it were many, and from various camps: car company employees, developers of the electric car, EV drivers, environmentalists, government officials, oil company executives, etc. All of these were involved in the car's rise and fall, and all play a significant role in its story. Turns out that the electric car was being built and sold by car dealers in California in the mid 90s. I was (once again) struck by the fact that people can be very misinformed very easily. As an example, I spent my early years growing up in the 80s and 90s, and I was never aware that electric cars are not only possible (which shouldn't be very surprising in the first place; I mean, look at everything that can run on electricity), but that they had been marketed. And driven. And liked. How did I never know about this? Isn't this a part of my generation's heritage? Regardless of the numerous benefits and (modestly) rising popularity, eventually, there were zero electric cars left on the road. Why? Whose fault is it? How on earth would a car that is better for the environment, drives well, and is easy to maintain NOT stay on the market?
This documentary goes in depth about all of the pieces to the puzzle. Who Killed the Electric Car? takes us through the EV's story, and investigates all of the suspects in the killing. Not to mention the fact that it also makes the audience sickeningly aware of what we do to our environment every day without even thinking twice. It begins by telling us the development of the electric car, and getting the experts to tell us why this car is so much better than those running on gasoline. We hear from a number of EV1 owners who loved their cars more than any other car they'd owned. One woman was not only an EV1 owner, but also worked for GM as a salesperson when these cars were being sold. She was present at the beginning of the electric car movement, pushed hard to see further development, and eventually lost her job as well as her car. And we get even further into this ugly mess: talking to the "higher-ups" of car companies, specifically GM, about why the electric car wasn't popular. We even hear from the California Air Resources Board which ends up joining the huge force against these vehicles. The documentary was fairly even-handed, getting information from both sides, as well as showing and demonstrating the numbers and hidden facts. As any good documentary should do.
Overall, a well-done documentary. As I remember, all of our questions were answered by the end. A great eye-opener, very informative, and interesting to watch, even for the person who doesn't get a thrill from cars. I was heartily ashamed of myself that I hadn't a clue about these things before, but the film ends on a positive note that this is not the end, and that there are still things we can do. I recommend watching deleted scenes as well, as they continued to inform. More than anything, I'll tell you to just go watch it and judge for yourself.
Rating: 15
A good documentary, but, it's a documentary. It rates high for factual representation and presenting both sides. But it doesn't get a superb rating because, in general, documentaries don't do it for me.
For more information about the electric car movement, go to: http://www.pluginamerica.com/. There are options now. Toyota makes a hybrid, the Prius, which is gaining in popularity (And gets 42 mpg!), and has also recently has come out with a plug-in hybrid. Car manufacturers need to know that there is a demand for these vehicles, and the consumer is the only one who can tell them so. Welcome to responsibility: stop killing things.
Iconic lines:
"I've never seen a manufacturer so cannibalistic about its own product."
"GM will make a car that runs on pig sh*t, if there's a demand."
9 comments:
I watched this with WLC, and I wanted to add what I thought was the craziest part:
Sure, GM marketed the car in a half-assed way, sure they stopped making the car without giving it a proper shot, sure oil companies probably had something to do with these things. But here's the crazy thing: GM didn't let ANYONE keep their electric cars. No one was given the option to buy them initially, only to lease, and no one was given the option to buy after the lease was up. GM just took all the cars back.
Which isn't even that crazy, until you realize that people are saying, "Wait, how much do you want for this car? I'll pay anything, I just want to keep it." And GM is saying, "Sorry, can't have it." People are literally staging vigils at the parking lots where you've taken their cars, and throwing themselves in front of the trucks that are taking the cars away to the junkyard.
These aren't defective cars, mind you. So what would cause a company to say, "No, sorry, we don't to accept your money for this already-created product. We understand that allowing you to buy this car would be absolutely no cost and all profit for us, but no thanks. We'd rather spend our own money to cart them to a junkyard and shred them."
Seriously, what motivates a company to make that decision?
You're right, this was definitely the most dumbfounding part. And the car company explained it pretty poorly.
The explanation we're given from the film is that they didn't want any more electric vehicles still on the road to remind people that they are an option. Which is a stinky thing to do.
If you're looking for some arguments from the other side, check this out as a counterpoint: http://blogs.edmunds.com/karl/239
For the record, and it's not like I'm on the side of the car manufacturers on this one - it's the opposite - it's not only Toyota that offers hybrid cars. Honda, as well, has had a hybrid Civic and other models for 5 years or more, and the rest of the manufacturers are getting there, too, with models from GM and Ford becoming available as of 2005.
The main difference with the other manufacturers is that they tend to take an existing design and make a hybrid version, instead of designing an original hybrid.
And I don't think for even a moment that Toyota and Honda are saints; they just want to sell more cars. I do think that one George W comes out as the biggest villain of this story, though.
Good addendum, Moshe. Hybrids, plug-ins, fuel cells, etc. will become mainstream someday--hopefully sooner than later. But car makers really have no reason to be innovative in that direction unless consumers or the government are pushing them that way. Government is still way behind there, in the U.S. anyway, but at least there's a consumer push starting to develop.
Your points on G.W. are well-made too. The world probably would have been very different had Gore won the 2000 election, for better or for worse. But I have to think, at the very least, we'd be in a better place environmentally in 2006 if Gore had won in 2000.
But the blame game can only go so far. Car makers can always say, "Look, we have no reason to make a cleaner car unless the gov't requires it." And the government can say, "Look, we really have no reason to pass environmental regulations unless the populace clamors for it." And citizens, as we've done, can keep blaming the auto makers and politicians for the sorry state of things.
Eventually, though, someone will have to stand up and be counted, and it might as well start with us.
Listen, I fully agree with everything you're saying, and I would gladly give Al Gore a pat on the shoulder despite the hideous haircut.
All I wanted to point out is that hybrid cars are already out there and in numbers; obviously, they don't receive much PR. And obviously, car manufacturers only manufacture them so they can have an ad saying they're "green".
I think that the world's biggest problem at the moment is that there are too many of the greedy mafia in control: Mr Dubya at the helm, and his oil/car company friends, mainly.
There's an excellent, excellent book called The End Of Oil by Paul Roberts that is pretty excellent. Even though the book can't really take into account the events of the last year and a half, it paints a very realistic picture of the coming future. And the car companies who don't wise the hell up and start pushing the development of hydrogen fuel cells (unfortunately, gonna be a few years before they're ready for prime time) and other alternative technologies are going to find themselves worthless soon. The world's oil supplies are drying up FAST, and I think the majority of people don't realize how fast they're going bye-bye. I think that one of Bush's absolute worst sins is pooh-poohing the Kyoto Protocol. That's absolutely the most important issue on the table right now, as far as I'm concerned.
Personally, I would rank nuclear weapons related issues up there with energy issues and global warming, but that aside I have read conflicting reports on the status of oil supplies (my source is mainly articles in Scientific American). What does seem to be close to a consensus is that soon enough (up to 20 years, probably less) we'll reach peak production and then things will get tough.
Anyway, the reason why I comment now is to mention the film Syriana (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0365737/). It's not based on anything real in particular, but I think it is pretty safe to say it shows the way the oil industry (and in effect the car industry, discussed in this post) has been going about pretty well.
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 continue forward uninterrupted by the powers that depend on oil consumption.
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