Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006)

A documentary that investigates the birth and death of the electric car, as well as the role of renewable energy and sustainable living in the future.

Director:

Chris Paine

Writer:

Chris Paine

Stars:

Martin Sheen, Reverend Gadget, Mel Gibson

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Martin Sheen	...	Narrator (voice)
Reverend Gadget	...	Himself (as Greg 'Gadget' Abbott)
Dave Barthmuss	...	Himself
Ed Begley Jr.	...	Himself
Jim Boyd	...	Himself
Alec N. Brooks	...	Himself
Alan Cocconi	...	Himself
John R. Dabels	...	Himself
Phyllis Diller	...	Herself
Colette Divine	...	Herself
Tom Everhart	...	Himself
David Freeman	...	Himself (as S. David Freeman)
Frank Gaffney	...	Himself (as Frank J. Gaffney Jr.)
Mel Gibson	...	Himself
Greg Hanssen	...	Himself

Storyline

With gasoline prices approaching $4/gallon, fossil fuel shortages, unrest in oil producing regions around the globe and mainstream consumer adoption and adoption of the hybrid electric car (more than 140,000 Prius' sold this year), this story couldn't be more relevant or important. The foremost goal in making this movie is to educate and enlighten audiences with the story of this car, its place in history and in the larger story of our car culture and how it enables our continuing addiction to foreign oil. This is an important film with an important message that not only calls to task the officials who squelched the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate, but all of the other accomplices, government, the car companies, Big Oil, even Eco-darling Hydrogen as well as consumers, who turned their backs on the car and embrace embracing instead the SUV. Our documentary investigates the death and resurrection of the electric car, as well as the role of renewable energy and sustainable living in our ...

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Plot Keywords:

car | american president | oil industry | california | question in title | 

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Taglines:

Unrest in the Middle East. Rising Petrol Prices. Global Warming. There was an Alternative.

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Genres:

Documentary

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for brief mild language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 August 2006 (UK)

Also Known As:

Chi ha ucciso l'auto elettrica? - Un giallo che si tinge d'oro nero

Filming Locations:

Willow Springs International Motorsports Park, Rosamond, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$45,138 (USA) (30 June 2006)

Gross:

$1,677,838 (USA) (10 November 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Plinyminor, Electric Entertainment, Papercut Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The boxy, small EV shown being crushed in the movie was the Honda EV-Plus. They, like the sleek GM EV-1, were only available for lease; several returned to Honda, and were converted into fuel cell demonstration vehicles. For a while, you were able to lease them through EV Rentals (at several Budget Rent a Car locations).

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Quotes

David Freeman: The oil industry and the automobile companies are resistant to change. The American people need to be reminded that it took a law to get seatbelts in the cars. It took a law to get airbags in the cars. It took a law to get the mileage up from 12 to 20 miles per gallon. It took a law to get catalytic converters to control the pollution. And i think clean cars are too important to be left to the automobile industry.

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Connections

Referenced in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #1.9 (2011)

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Soundtracks

"Who Knows"
Written by Marlon Black
Performed by Marlon Black
Courtesy of Capsoul Records
By Arrangement with Bank Robber Music

User Reviews

You MUST see this Film

This film WILL frustrate you greatly. It's that simple. All of this talk about cars of the future with hydrogen fuel cells in 15 or 20 years from now is ridiculous. The car of the future was here, and they killed it. I won't say the first cars were perfect, but remember that NASA blew up a lot of rockets before getting it right, same with electric cars. The first ones could only do approx 80-100 miles on a charge. Most of us only commute that far to work, and these cars would have served us perfectly. Without one drop of gas. Battery technology has improved tremendously since then, and even while the EV was in production there were improvements. Mr. Paine presents a surprisingly balanced film that time and again exhibits mans' greed, stupidity, shortsightedness and another excellent example of American corporate stupidity. I firmly believe that General Motors would not be in the financial hole it is currently in if it continued exploring the electric car program. You have to start somewhere and GM, Ford, Toyota and Honda were the trailblazers and they all did it. Electric cars were built that not only worked, but worked well, and only would get better as battery technology improved. They did it because the State of California forced them to. The automakers pushed back and California blinked. It's no wonder that shortly thereafter all of the electric car programs were killed and the quiet destruction of most of the cars began. Some survived and are still in use. (An electric Toyota RAV4 sold on eBay in April 2006 for $60,000.) This film is successful not because of a political leaning one way or the other, but because of the flagrant lack of common sense on display by most parties, and on that level it's extremely frustrating because we have the technology to start reducing our dependence on oil now.