Car Trouble

Who Killed the Electric Car?

Directed by Chris Paine

In Who Killed the Electric Car?, documentary filmmaker Chris Paine chronicles the recent conspiracy to prevent proliferation of a series of automobiles that ran quietly and efficiently on electricity. The revolutionary EV1 vehicles were developed by General Motors, Toyota and other manufacturers during the 1990s in response to California's Zero Emissions Mandate, aimed at reducing the state's devastating air pollution. These cars required no gas, no oil changes, no mufflers. They were emission-free, entirely non-polluting, and they were fast, fun to drive, sleekly designed and exceptionally attractive to boot. So attractive, in fact, that when GM recalled the fleet of EV1s already on the road, the people who were driving them-Paine, Mel Gibson, Peter Horton, Phyllis Diller and Alexandra Paul among a host of non-celebrities-practically took up arms to keep their electric cars. But, alas, to no avail. The cars, which had been leased rather than sold, had to be relinquished to GM-or the leasees faced criminal charges of theft.

One by one, the beloved-but-reclaimed vehicles were hauled to remote desert graveyards and eventually destroyed. No matter how attached you are to your gas-guzzling little VW bug or supersized SUV, you'll be shocked to see how hundreds of perfectly fine and fully functional-or, according to their enamored drivers, great and functioning fabulously-automobiles were smashed to smithereens because they were just too efficient. That's just too absurd-or should we say obscene?

And, why was this done? Former EV1 Sales Specialist (until her 2001 layoff from GM) Chelsea Sexton and other EV activists, consumer advocates, auto industry and pollution experts explain that GM, Toyota and other electric vehicle manufacturers feared the efficiency of the electric vehicles-which rarely required repairs-would undermine huge sales profits from parts replacement in oil-fueled vehicles. Therein lies motivation for conspiracy. The film also gives passing consideration to our dependence on oil-both domestic and foreign-and to the lifestyle changes caused by soaring gas prices, but it keeps its primary focus on environmental and consumer rights issues.

But to get the whole story, see this kick-ass film. Who Killed the Electric Car? is a first-rate detective story, well executed, with real social and political conviction. The film sets up the assassinated EV1 as a symbol of how powers-that-be prioritize when considering our well-being and our environmental and economic future.