Documentary on EV1 throws the book at GM
By Terry LawsonJuly 7, 2006
You aren't likely to be surprised to hear a former make-believe U.S. president, Martin Sheen, narrating "Who Killed the Electric Car?," a documentary that could draw a larger audience in Detroit than one narrated by almost-President Al Gore, "An Inconvenient Truth."
Although "Truth" only beseeches the auto industry to do its part to save the planet by finding a way to wean us all off the tainted teat of oil, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" accuses the industry -- and General Motors in particular -- of outright conspiracy. When GM halted production of its EV1, the first modern, commercially produced, U.S.-designed automobile to run on electricity, it recalled the vehicles from the people who leased them -- and then destroyed the cars.
To writer-director Chris Paine, who loved his EV1, and Chelsea Sexton, a proud member of the original EV1 marketing team, the reasons GM gave for discontinuing the car were shortsighted at best, disingenuous for certain and perhaps even perjury -- if anyone could get the manufacturer in a court of law. Because no one has, Paine plays judge and jury in a film he has cleverly styled as a murder mystery.
The brief boils down to this: GM, looking toward the day when it would have to comply with legislation launched by those smog-choked airheads in California that would require a percentage of cars sold there to have zero-emission engines, gave the go-ahead to a research project it always expected to fail. Yet to the shock of the suits, a design team replied with a battery-powered car that had the cool cache of a VW bug or a PT Cruiser and plenty of acceleration.
Sexton and her team made disciples out of Hollywood trendsetters, including greenie liberals like Tom Hanks and cynical conservative Mel Gibson, who agreed to be interviewed in the film. California installed charging stations on the highways, and it appeared that the EV1 might be nurtured into a success -- until GM pulled the plug in 2000, citing lack of consumer interest.
Yet Sexton says she was unable to fill all the orders she received for the cars, even though the EV1 could only be leased, and the company could recall the car at its leisure. This proved prescient when GM called the cars back, refusing happy drivers' requests to buy them. The company said the EV1s would be recycled, but Sexton, Paine and other activists follow the cars to the lot where they were collected and finally to the killing ground where they were crushed.
Paine makes room for rebuttal, from both GM spokesmen and one of the film's suspected villains, Allan Lloyd, the former chairman of the California Air Resources Board. Lloyd led the charge to relax the zero-emissions law, which GM and other automakers worked strenuously and successful to overturn. Nevertheless, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" is a piece of unabashed advocacy. Although every fact in the film -- such as how much distance could be attained with a full battery charge -- has been vetted by lawyers, much of what is argued remains arguable.
If the definition of murder means beyond a reasonable doubt, GM and some of the alleged co-conspirators would be acquitted, which is not to say they aren't guilty.
"Who Killed the Electric Car?," which has been transferred to film from video, runs efficiently on its own energy and sincerity, which makes it not unlike the car it mourns. It may also be the most timely movie since "The China Syndrome," considering that gas is $3 a gallon, some profits go to countries that support terrorists and GM is fighting for survival -- in no small part because of its inability to have anything like vision.
If they ever have to make a documentary titled "Who Killed GM?," we can be assured that some witnesses will argue suicide.
