Who Killed the Electric Car?

Writer/director Chris Paine has made an important and informative documentary about the now defunct electric car (the EV-1). Until this film came out I had never known that there had been electric cars. According to Phyllis Diller there were many electric cars during the first part of the 20th century. But these were overtaken by the gas guzzling autos that we are used to.

However, not too long ago General Motors came up with an electric car and leased them out to certain people in California. Everyone who had one loved it. It didn't produce dangerous emissions to the environment and it eliminated our need for foreign oil. So why did General Motors eventually decide to crush all of these electric cars in the Arizona desert? In order to try to answer this question Paine interviewed many people including automakers, government officials, and celebrities. Among those interviewed are Tom Hanks, Mel Gibson, Ralph Nader and Iris and Stanford Ovshinsky (Mr. Ovshinsky invented the battery that the EV-1 runs on).

The conclusion is that the government, the oil companies, the automakers and, yes, the consumers are all to blame for the demise of the electric car. After finding out what will happen to the EV-1 many of its supporters held a funeral for it. They were hoping to bring public awareness to what was happening but, unfortunately, it didn't help.

While this is not an outstanding film I certainly learned a lot from it. I felt infuriated when I saw those crushed cars. What a waste! Once again greed wins and what is in the best of interest of the people and the environment loses.