Who killed the electric car?

‘Who killed the electric car?’ (2006) is a documentary by award winning director Chris Payne. The documentary gives us an insight into the cultural, political, environmental and economical effects on the birth and death of the ‘electric car race’. So who killed the electric car?

In 1996 General Motors produced and leased their first 100% electric car. Inspired by the potential impact for success the California air resources board (CARB) passed a mandate that made the production and sale of zero emission vehicles a requirement for the seven major auto manufactures that sold their cars in the USA to continue to market their vehicles in California.

Customers were satisfied with the cars as they were quick, quiet, aesthetically pleasing and good for the environment. Unfortunately the car was not for everyone as it only had 2 seats and had a driving range of 120miles in one charge. The cars were more expensive to make as the were made by hand and not fully mass produced.

As Global warming became more apparent so did the need for a cleaner alternative to fuel. The Car manufactures were against the mandate put into place which left them with two options. Fight it or comply with it, so they did both. The car manufactures , including GM were backed up by the white house and fought against the mandate and won meaning a car with zero admissions was not needed anymore and was replace by large petrol guzzlers such as the HUMMER. GM had all of their EV-1’s destroyed and put into landfill even though they said they would be fully recycled.

Petrol and car companies then came together against the EV-1 environmentalists and started to develop Hydrogen Fuel Cell technology to replace electricity which to this date has not been achieved because it is extremely expensive and no manmade material is capable of holding enough fuel to make it desirable for the user.

The battery in the EV-1 was not fully developed but GM knew that there were stronger and longer lasting batteries on the market but did not make the effort to use this technology so if the technology and infrastructure was in place who was to blame?

GUILTY:

· Car companies

· Oil companies

· C.A.R.B

· The Government

· Hydrogen fuel cell technology

· Consumers

Today there are cars such as the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius which combine electricity and petrol to make a Hybrid Drive giving extra mileage per gallon and reducing CO2 admissions. This technology will hopefully develop into mass producing a full plug-in drive resulting in continuing to reduce lower CO2 admissions.

In the end it is a fight about the future. As oil prices rise and Global warming continues to be a hot topic the government and car industry will have to work closely on achieving a cleaner future.

How do they do it?

Cardboard boxes:

Cardboard boxes were accidentally created in 1870. There are three main parts to corrugated cardboard: The flute and two liners. They are held together by glue made from waste starch. You can add more flutes and liners to create a more cushioned and stronger box.

Packaging tubes:

Made out of aluminium because they are lightweight, affordable and malleable. Aluminium slugs (coin size) are coated with lubricated powder. The slugs are then channelled into a forming press where impact intrusion shapes the slug into a tube. The tubes are then aligned and threaded using rollers. The tubes are then lacquered to protects the contents that will be put inside. The tubes are then painted using enamel paint and printed using polyester ink. They are then sent to their respective clients to be filled with contents.

Tetropak:

Keeps food and beverages safe without refrigeration for up to a year. Uses all recyclable materials. Made up of three layers which are laminated together. 1. plastic 2. paperboard 3. foil. Tetropak is leak proof. Printing occurs on the paper using a maximum of 6 colours. It is then cut and sent to manufacturer to be filled and finalise the shape.

Recycling:

Garbage trucks pick up garbage bins using a strong robotic arm. The trucks then go to a transfer centre. Recycling products are sorted and separated. papers metals plastics and glass are sorted. Contains almost a mile of conveyabelts. Sorts tones and tones adady. High powered air is blown to separate lighted materials leaving glass on the conveyabelt. Garbage is then bounced across rubber wheels. this splits up the lighter paper materials and heavier plastics and metals. The metals are then pulled out by a magnetic field. The machine then is fined its sorting. It is now in human hands. Humans sort out different types of plastics etc. The sorted waste is then compressed into bales for transportation to other recycling plants.

The pitt: Excess rubbish that can't be recycled. Where does it go? Trucks transport the garbage to landfill. compressors and bulldozers compress and move the garbage to level it out and to stop potential explosions from mixtures of land fill.

Aluminium cans:

Fully recyclable. Wate cuttings are recycled back into production line. The cans go through six stages of cleaning before they are printed on. Varnish is then applied to protect the ink.

Glass Bottles:

Glass uses less energy then plastic and metal to recycle. glass is made from natural ingredients. Celica sand, soda ash and lime stone. These ingredients are put together with recycled glass. They are then put into a furnace. the heat then melts everything together. the glass is then cut using a machine. the glass is then moved to bottle or jar forming machine. It is then moulded and blown. And blown again against another mould.

Plastic bottles and jars:

The most common plastic for bottles and jars is PET. Molds are used to create the shape is most commenly used. The stretching and re heat machine create the correct shape of the bottle. The machine makes over 10000 bottles per hour. Plastic scraps from the manufacturers are used for hygienic reasons.

How it's made

Cardboard boxes:

Cardboard boxes were accidentally created in 1870. There are three main parts to corrugated cardboard: The flute and two liners. They are held together by glue made from waste starch. You can add more flutes and liners to create a more cushioned and stronger box.

Giving packaging a new life

Paper recycling:

before recycling paper must be sorted, resolved and pulped in the pulper machine. Impurities and inks are removed. To creat new paper more roar materials are added depending on the desired paper type being created. The paper is then drained and dried. Most products that include a high percentage of recycled paper are newspapers, toilet paper and cardboard for packaging.

Plastics:

Before the 1990's plastic was either incinerate or put into landfill. Now days plastic is sorted and recycled in a dual system.It is important that the plastics are sorted to be fully recycled or in most cases half recycled. Recycled plastic is broken down into high grade re granulate. The plastic is then melted / shaped into a new products.

Tetrapak:

Usually made up of paper, polyethylene and aluminium. Waste is sorted using in fared technology. Materials are tightly bonded together. The materials are separated by being washed in a large drum where they swell, separate and are sorted out again.

Glass:

Glass is electronically sorted into colours. The machine uses a octo-electronic device where light absorption is used to remove impurities as small as 15mm. Glass is now in very small (grain like) pieces where it is then melted down with soda, lime and sand and blown into shape by a machine.

Aluminium:

Sorted by a EDI-current seperator which uses magnetic force acting in the opposite direction which lifts the aluminium off the conveyabelt away from impurities. The aluminium is the sorted into bales. Then melted, casted and rolled. Sheets are produce as they are more energy efficient to produce and can be easily printed on and transported. The sheets are then shaped into cans or sent to a manufacturer. Production waste in returned back into production line.

Sorting innovations:

Dry sorting:

SEV Drum, Magnetic technology, Inferred technology, Edi-current separator, system of contrefuses, re granulates.

Wet sorting:

Paper removed by water and chemicals

Technical Drawing