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.