A balanced view of the demise of revered electric car
By Mick LaSalle, Chronicle Movie CriticJuly 7, 2006
Less than 10 years ago, the electric car looked like the coming thing. General Motors had an attractive electric car on the road, and it seemed inevitable that these cars would get better, less expensive and more practical as time went on. California, responding to a pollution crisis, had a law on the books requiring that 2 percent of the state's vehicles be emissions free by 1998 and 10 percent by 2003. Everything was in place -- and then the electric car disappeared.
"Who Killed the Electric Car?" is a balanced examination of the reasons for the electric car's disappearance, reasons that include corporate collusion and greed, governmental spinelessness and oil company propaganda -- but also consumer indifference and the limitations of the vehicles themselves. Rather than try to devise a conspiracy theory that lays the blame on one party's doorstep, director Chris Paine examines the issue from a number of sides. He makes a virtue of the issue's complexity, by structuring the film as though it were a murder mystery with a host of suspects. In fact, he gives enough evidence for the viewer to come away with an understanding of the situation that's different from his own.
Put it this way: Do you really need a conspiracy theory to figure out why people, in 1997, didn't run out to buy a $35,000 car that could only go, at most, 120 miles without a charge and that took at least 45 minutes to charge? Do you need a conspiracy theory to explain why an automotive company wouldn't want to throw good money after bad by strenuously advertising it? As it stood, General Motors' EV1 was a great car to have as a second vehicle, for city driving. But most people who spend 35 grand on a new car want that car to be their primary vehicle. They don't want to have to buy yet another car to drive into the country for the weekend.
Yet explaining why few people bought the electric car in the beginning doesn't completely explain why it disappeared. Anyone who has been around long enough has seen the pattern repeated with VCRs, computers, video cameras and DVD players and recorders: The first entries onto the market are expensive, imperfect and not always easy to use. But over time, usually over a fairly short time, the bugs are worked out, the technology becomes more practical and the prices plummet. This is exactly what did not happen with electric cars, and the fact that it didn't happen -- that little effort was expended to make it happen -- is where the film's investigation proves fruitful.
Rather than try to comply with California's emissions timetable by investing further in electric car technology, the automobile companies made it their mission to overturn the law. GM halted its production of the EV1 and then -- as if to erase the electric car from memory -- refused to let leaseholders buy the cars. Instead, as the leases ran out, GM took the cars back and destroyed them. Meanwhile, oil companies ran ads claiming that the electric car was an environmental hazard. Later, they bought the rights to the electric car battery technology.
"Who Killed the Electric Car?" makes a compelling case that the current discussion of hydrogen cell technology, as the successor to the internal combustion engine, is a way of keeping America hooked on gasoline for at least 20 more years. The hydrogen cell is decades away, while the electric car is close to being practical. The one bright spot is the popularity of hybrid vehicles. If there's a conspiracy against the Prius, someone forgot to tell the consumer.
