Who killed the electric car

In 1996 GM introduced and mass produced first entirely electric car. This dream car was fast, quiet, produced no emission and did not use any gasoline. It was supposed to be a solution to our environmental problems and a cure to our addiction to oil . The car was called EV1.

This turned out to be a short lived dream, as nearly 10 years later these futuristic cars were almost entirely gone. So what happened? And why did such a great idea did in fact disappear. Who Killed The Electric Car is a movie about an idea, a great idea and how government, car manufacturers, consumers, oil companies and hydrogen fuel cell technology had their part in killing this dream.

Watch Chelsea Sexton who purchased new EV1 at the age of 17 and got a job with GM promoting EV1 to help her pay her way through college. Chelsea was also part of many organizations formed during "the removal of the electric car idea" to save the EV1 and the idea of an electric car.

EV1 car was simple to use, you plugged it in at night and it was ready for you to drive it the next morning. You were able to do 70-80 miles per day on a single battery charge. Watch how car manufacturers deliberately advertised EV1 in a way to discourage consumers from buying the vehicle. Inappropriate batteries were chosen for the car. It was made as difficult as possible for interested buyers to purchase the electric car.

"If you sincerely want to market a product you don't start out by describing limitations of the product" - Chelsea Sexton.

Watch how California regulators introduced and passed Zero Emission Vehicle mandate in 1990 (knowing that making a car able of producing no emission was a reality). Mandate stated that if auto makers wanted to continue making cars, some of those cars would have to produce no exhaust. The amount of cars to be produced by car manufactures was to rise every 5 years by 5 percent. Of course this mandate was dismantled as well and is no longer in place.

The movie also talks about other car manufactures trying to obey the mandate. It shows their products such as Ford Ranger EV, Ford Think, Honda EV Plus, Nissan Altra EV, Toyota RAV4 EV and more.

Watch what happened to these vehicles, how nobody was allowed to renew their leases. Where these cars were eventually taken and why they were all crushed to million pieces.

Other very important part in this movie is the automotive parts market. The movie shows how the electric car would pretty much destroy the automotive parts. The truth is that without combustion engine there is no need for tune ups, oil changes, timing belts, radiators, water pumps, various gaskets, spark plugs, transmission and hundreds of other parts and repairs.

Who killed the electric car was written and directed by Chris Paine.

You can visit the official site here where you can watch the trailer and purchase the DVD.

Also in this movie:

Other related sites:

EV1.org