Did you know the Electric Car is older than your grandma?

 The documentary Who Killed The Electric Car explores how a car most people consider brand new, has been around for much longer than we think. Even more, it explores why this avant-garde idea was pushed to the back burner.

The Original Electric Car: The GV1

A hundred years ago, more electric cars were used than gas vehicles.  Then, the automobile industry started to advertise gas guzzlers as sexy, fast cars, and those took off running. It wasn’t until the early 1990s, that electric vehicles rolled back into action. In efforts to control the horrendous air quality, The California Air Resources Board (CARB) passed the Zero Emissions Vehicle Mandate in 1990 which set targets on the number of electric vehicles California Car Companies had to produce. The EV1, introduced by General Motors (GM) in 1996 set precedent for a speedy and slick electric vehicle. 

However, the automobile industries that were creating electric vehicles were the same ones fighting the mandate. In a confidential 1995 memo, the American Automobile Manufactures Association wrote that they sought to hire a PR firm to create a “grassroots educational campaign” to repeal the mandate.  Even more shocking was the challenge they were fighting so hard to prevent: a “greater consumer acceptance of electric vehicles.” Companies like GM lobbied CARB to compromise the mandate, and ultimately ended up dismantling their electric cars and EV1 staff in 2001.

A EV1 Vigil after GM reports to take back cars

Even though people who had EV1s loved them, GM ultimately forced these people to give up their leases and took all their cars off the road. The film shows people begging to keep their beloved cars, and then flashes to GM taking the same cars to get crushed in the Arizona desert. Tom Everhart, who was on the GM board from 1989-2002, said that many people in the company didn’t believe the car could make a profit. Meanwhile, there were waiting lists 4,000 people long waiting to buy these cars. People loved them so much that there were vigils for the cars, when GM announced they were taking them away.

Some may blame the car as not being high-tech

Photos of crushed EV1s
in Arizona Desert

enough or able to drive far enough. However, Stan Ovshinsky proves those claims wrong. He created the Nickel Metal Hydride NiMH battery which energized the car to travel 120 miles per charge with speeds up to 80mph. But soon after GM bought Stan’s invention, the company went ahead and sold it to Texaco-Chevron Oil and Gas Company who further suppressed the efforts of the electric car.

This car’s journey has not been an easy one. It has found itself stuck in many potholes, and only now is it having the opportunity to get out. It is important for corporations and people to remember their mistakes, so the next great solution doesn't find itself stuck behind so many red lights.

Everything you need to know...

in a doc: http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/presskit.pdf

in a timeline:http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/pages/section2.swf