All-electric cars debuted on California streets in 1996. The compact yet comfortable non-polluting vehicles were the carmakers' (GM and Toyota in particular) answer to lifting California's ill-famed smog. Driving one became widely popular, until the upper echelons of finance and politics drove them off the road. In a manner that is both accurate and compelling, aided by the testimony of guest stars Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks and Ralph Nader, consumer rights movement leader, and narrated by Martin Sheen, Chris Paine's film recounts the events leading to the demise of the electric car. But the battle may not be over yet: recent research into hybrid vehicles that combine an internal combustion engine with a battery-driven electric motor offers promising prospects.
Who Killed the Electric Car?
«Here's what happened: I fell in love with my car. I've never been a car guy but that all changed when General Motors leased me its all-electric car, the EV1, in 1997. (...) It made me feel like the 21st century had arrived. (...) But deep and mysterious currents were stirring. Politics, economics and corporate power stopped California's electric car program in its tracks. Then the carmakers started taking our cars off the road. I thought about stealing mine, but the prospect of a felony and legal fees gave me pause. So when our best efforts failed and our cars started disappearing, there was only one thing left I could think to do: get this apparently forgotten story to the press».
Sostenibility
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