Cinema - Who killed the electric car?

In 1996, General Motors, amid much fanfare, put its EV1 electric car on the market. It didn’t look like a Heath Robinson machine, it went pretty fast (up to 85mph), and, best of all, it didn’t leave noxious CO2 fumes in the already-polluted air of Arizona and Florida; the two states in which you could get hold of one. Not that you could buy an EV1; they were available on lease, and were all snapped up by punters enthusiastic to be part of this pioneering venture. By 2004, however, all the leases had been terminated, the cars called back to GM central, and systematically crushed. Honda, Toyota and Ford all pulled their prototype electric cars off the market, too.

Director Chris Paine was one of the leaseholders (as were Tom Hanks and Mel Gibson). He was very happy with the car, and not just for its eco-friendly nature. It worked. It was a great car. The batteries had a limited range, (up to 100 miles) sure, but you could recharge at home, and in a growing number of garages on the inter-state highways. This led him to wondering why such a bold and environmentally necessary industry was so abruptly terminated. Who, in effect, killed the electric car? In this fast-moving documentary he puts the usual suspects - the Bush regime, the large oil companies, and the car manufacturers - in the dock, and comes up with some interesting conclusions about the nature of who calls the shots in the oil-addicted States. A slick documentary, narrated by Martin Sheen. AL