I took the week of Thanksgiving off of work which gave me the chance to catch up on some of the DVDs from Netflix that have been piling up in my house. One of the DVDs was the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? It was great!

It was back during high school that I first started taking an interest in environmental issues. It was also during this time that General Motors released the EV1 in California. I remember occasionally reading articles about the EV1, but it was only available in California and I lived in Ohio, so I didn’t follow it too closely. Because I didn’t follow it I also hadn’t heard of the controversy surrounding its demise. The death (or more appropriately, “the murder”) of the EV1 by GM is the primary topic of this extremely well produced documentary.

For those of you unaware of the story of the EV1, here’s a brief synopsis from the documentary’s website:

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?

WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? chronicles the life and mysterious death of the GM EV1, examining its cultural and economic ripple effects and how they reverberated through the halls of government and big business.

The year is 1990. California is in a pollution crisis. Smog threatens public health. Desperate for a solution, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) targets the source of its problem: auto exhaust. Inspired by a recent announcement from General Motors about an electric vehicle prototype, the Zero Emissions Mandate (ZEV) is born. It required 2% of new vehicles sold in California to be emission-free by 1998, 10% by 2003. It is the most radical smog-fighting mandate since the catalytic converter.

With a jump on the competition thanks to its speed-record-breaking electric concept car, GM launches its EV1 electric vehicle in 1996. It was a revolutionary modern car, requiring no gas, no oil changes, no mufflers, and rare brake maintenance (a billion-dollar industry unto itself). A typical maintenance checkup for the EV1 consisted of replenishing the windshield washer fluid and a tire rotation.

But the fanfare surrounding the EV1’s launch disappeared and the cars followed. Was it lack of consumer demand as carmakers claimed, or were other persuasive forces at work?

Fast forward to 6 years later… The fleet is gone. EV charging stations dot the California landscape like tombstones, collecting dust and spider webs. How could this happen? Did anyone bother to examine the evidence? Yes, in fact, someone did. And it was murder.

The electric car threatened the status quo. The truth behind its demise resembles the climactic outcome of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express: multiple suspects, each taking their turn with the knife. WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? interviews and investigates automakers, legislators, engineers, consumers and car enthusiasts from Los Angeles to Detroit, to work through motives and alibis, and to piece the complex puzzle together.

WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? is not just about the EV1. It’s about how this allegory for failure—reflected in today’s oil prices and air quality—can also be a shining symbol of society’s potential to better itself and the world around it. While there’s plenty of outrage for lost time, there’s also time for renewal as technology is reborn in WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?

What GM did to the EV1 is wrong and unethical. GM knows this, and they’ve taken a big PR hit as a result. Even if GM didn’t want to commit to electric vehicles they should have at least realized the good will it would have created towards their company. Just look what the Prius has done for Toyota.

The documentary is very thorough and covers a lot more than I can get into on here, so I highly recommend you go rent it and then post your thoughts in the comments. I look forward to hearing your opinions on Who Killed the Electric Car?

Rating: