Who Killed the Electric Car? It was among the fastest, most efficient production cars ever built. It ran on electricity, produced no emissions and catapulted American technology to the forefront of the automotive industry. The lucky few who drove it never wanted to give it up. So why did General Motors crush its fleet of EV1 electric vehicles in the Arizona desert?
I just spent an hour and a half watching this video. Very interesting.
Hour and a half?! Is there a Reader’s Digest version? I quit watching after the first 15 seconds of bagpipes and knew it would be agonizingly drawn out. It’s just as well that I don’t watch something like this, my 6 month old gas-guzzling pickup might get jealous. She’s pretty, drinks too much, and I intend to keep her out of Atlanta for fear that a B&Per might hit it.
It’s not often that one get so many lies crammed into one short film, but Who Killed… manages to do this and more, starting with perhaps its most
preposterous claim – that somehow GM was the only company guiding the destiny of electric cars during the 1990’s, when everyone knows that Honda and Toyota both produced and then killed their electric car programs, and for exactly the same reason GM did – the cars were total flops. GM could only lease the cars (they couldn’t have sold them anyway – they cost way too much, $25,000 just for the 5 year lifespan battery pack),
pretty much the same as Honda and Toyota (Toyota actually sold them near the end of their run). GM’s Volt was actually not highway legal – it only was on the road because GM negotiated with the Feds to allow it to be operated as “an experimental vehicle,” something hidden by the film. And GM also had to agree to recover all the cars when they went off lease, another fact hidden by the film. Another fact hidden by the film was that Chris Paine, the film’s owner, had made a backroom deal with Toyota and in return didn’t mention that company in his film as an EV killer, which they obviously were. The film also lied about the capabilities of the EV-1, a car recently named one of the worst cars ever built by a panel of automotive experts, and one that with its 50 mile driving radius, didn’t qualify as a viabnle alternative to a gas powered vehicle. GM was never able to lease more than 800 EV-1s of the 1100 plus that were available in California and Arizona. Angyus MacKenzie, senior editor of Motor trend recently stated that no one killed the electric car – it was DOA. Truer words were never spoken. I followed the development of the EV-1 myself, and after learning
of its capabilities (more precisely, its inabilities) I never understood why in the world GM ever built that car. It was, in all major characteristics, no better than the Detroit electric that was made obsolete by the Model T Ford in 1906, 90 years earlier. In 90 years, electric cars hadn’t progressed in any significant fashion. It couldn’t travel further or recharge faster and was just as expensive. The EV-1 cost 4 times mrle than a much better (adn faster) Honda Accord (in cold weather the EV-1 was a snail – that’s why GM only leased them in So California and Arizona). It wasn’t the cheap ride the film claims either – battery costs were at least $4,000 per year, or about 5 times more expensive than gasoline would have cost. The film makes the preposterous claim that GM could have thrown in some lithium ion batteries and solved the car’s problesm. Oh really? Exactly why does the film think that? Aside from costing even more, li ion batteries of that day were primitive and prone to exploding and catching fire and were in cell sized appropriate for flashlights, not electric cars. Does this film really think that extending the rangae from 90 to 120 miles would make any significant difference? All you morons who belieieve the crap in this film will ahve a chance to prove that you are right – the Mistsubishi electric will appear next year. It will be cheaper (at $40K) with a greater driving range (at 100 miles) and a cheaper battery pack (at $20K – 5 year expected lifespan)
and a faster recharge time (6 rather than 8 hours) than the EV-1. It will also carry five times as many passengers, and some luggage. let’s see you
people who are shilling for the EV-1 technology put your money where your mouth is, rather than conning and defrauding the public with your lies.
Funny thing, though, I don’t really expect to see any of your asses standing in line to buy one of Mitsubishi’s EVs. I wonder why?
Anonymous I have a three month old Dodge 3500 dually mega cab diesel ,I would never take it to the Atl,I dont care if it gets sh*t for miles per gallon lol
You forgot to type “if” after “Anonymous”.
God Kerry Bradshaw!?! Bitter much??? Do you ever play golf?
Be careful because the little electric cars could EXPLODE!!! hahahahaha
The baby shit the bed; best to throw out the whole nursery, WITH THE BABY!!!
FACT: EV Tech has been around since the 1900’s (Tesla, duh!).
FACT: Congress Sucked way back in 1968 – http://www.electrifyingtimes.com/GE_EV_hearings.html
FACT: Kerry Bradshaw = FAIL (Needs to do homework. Doesn’t play well with others)
This movie is awesome even with all its faults… Shredding cars!?!
It is very easy to detect guilty behavior in humans.
“Hour and a half?! Is there a Reader’s Digest version? I quit watching after the first 15 seconds of bagpipes…”
Hey Cletus, does your sister/wife turn on the computer for you after she gets you dressed? I’m wondering a backwoods hillbilly would find this site???
To KB: That humming box in front of you is a computer (not a typewriter). If you ever do homework you can use the computer for simple searches… Put down the weed and open your mind (there’s a whole world out here)…
from January 24th, Sunday – Dallas Morning News
Dallas had electric delivery trucks in the 1920s and 30s. Many electric delivery vehicles were used in big cities into the 1960s.
Within the past decade two Richardson men, George Thiess and Jack Hooker, claimed to have used batteries operating on magnesium from seawater to increase the range of their electric automobile from 100 miles to 400 or 500 miles.
But it is a mystery car once demonstrated by Nikola Tesla, developer of alternating current… and General Electric in 1931, he took the gasoline engine from a new Pierce-Arrow and replaced it with an 80-horsepower alternating-current electric motor with no external power source.
Getting into the car with the circuit box in the front seat beside him, he pushed the rods in, announced, “We now have power,” and proceeded to test drive the car for a week, often at speeds of up to 90 mph.
http://www.keelynet.com/energy/teslafe1.htm
Still the point remains that it is an underdeveloped technology in the automobile industry. If the years spent researching and developing antique technology in a sad attempt for better mileage had been allocated to this, this film wouldn’t exist.
I spent a few years racing electric RC cars as a hobby and saw the progress from NiCad to NiMH to LiPo batteries, brushed motors to brushless….and this was only 5 years time frame. Only those who have raced these things will understand the leaps these changes represent. But to summarize, Faster acceleration (if you thought 0-60 in 3.7 secs is fast – this is nothing), incredible top speeds (record setting), longer running times, overall better efficiency, less to no maintenance….and *this was just a hobby!!!*. This kind of research and development should’ve been applied decades ago to automobiles.
WOW reading the replies on here sort of sums up why we don’t have any electric cars… The film was great and it really made me upset at the way the whole thing was handled. The way forward is for people to start building these things themselves… Thanks for finding and posting up this film dude.
@Kerry Bradshaw: Do you have any references to back up your “facts?” If not, you just wasted 5 minutes typing out your response as no one with a brain will give any credence to anything you just said. Maybe you were in the room, serving tea and scones, when this guy made his “back room deal” with Toyota, but without proof, it’s a fairy tale.
Doesn’t mention how the electricity for the cars is generated, this is the bit that isn’t green.