Film Review: Who Killed the Electric Car

Title: Who Killed the Electric Car?

Director: Chris Paine

Screenwriter: Chris Paine

Producer: Dean Devlin, Richard Titus, Tavin Marin Titus (Exec)

Kearie Peak, Marc Roskin (Co-Exec)

Jessie Deeter, Kathy Weiss

Rachael Olschan (Co), Natalie Artin, Jeff Steele, (Assoc),

Alex Gibney (Consulting), Jason Saville (Line)

Cinema: Thaddeus Wadleigh

Editor: Michael, Kavalenko, Chris A. Peterson

Music: Michael Brook

Year: 2006 (92 minutes)

Synopsis: Chris Paine’s film investigates the events leading to the quiet destruction of thousands of new, radically electric vehicles. Through interviews and narrative, the film paints a picture of an industrial culture whose aversion to change and reliance on oil may be deeper than its ability to embrace ready solutions. Who Killed the Electric Car? and Director/Screenwriter Chris Paine were nominated by the Writers Guild for Best Documentary of 2006. The film also received nominations from the Broadcast Critics Awards and the Environmental Media Awards for Best Documentary of 2006. The film won the audience award at the Canberra International Film Festival and won a special jury prize at the Mountain Film Festival.

Review: Director/Screenwriter Chris Paine did a good job of telling the story of how the fully electric (as opposed to hybrid) vehicle was killed, despite the fact that the vehicles were in-demand and the technology to meet customer expectations was available. Paine shows how the death of the electric car was less of a conspiracy than it was a cast of willing participants all looking out for their own best interests despite the market demand.

This film could have fairly easily degenerated into an over-the-top story of corporate greed (there was some of that) or a propaganda piece for the environmental movement (there’s some of that too), but it didn’t. Instead, Paine managed to stay on the objective side of the equation and created a film that is informative, interesting and entertaining.

One of the strengths of the film is the wide range of credible interviews provided. Paine doesn’t march out only the usual suspects to tell his story. People like Ralph Nader and Ed Begley, Jr. are involved, but are not featured. For me, that made the film more original, objective, and interesting. When you hear Ralph Nader talk about corporate greed or Ed Begley, Jr. talk about the environment, you can pretty easily anticipate what they’re going to say because they’ve said it so often in so many places. That wasn’t the case here. By interviewing a wide range of people, including people who were involved in the electric vehicle programs at the various automobile manufacturers, Who Killed the Electric Car? had a strong air of credibility.

The thing that struck me most profoundly about the movie was how GM put so much effort into killing off what very well may have been their golden goose. Instead of profiting from the EV-1, they killed it off and three years later (in 2009) they went with hat-in-hand for a government bailout. Who knows? The EV-1 may have been GM’s salvation.

(3.0 stars out of 5.0)