Who Killed the Electric Car?

Product Details

Director : Chris Paine
Actor : Jr. Ed Begley, Phyllis Diller, Alexandra Paul, Mel Gibson, Peter Horton
Format : AC-3, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Aspect Ratio : 1.78:1
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0043396152861
Product Group : DVD
Release Date : 2006-11-14
Studio : Sony Pictures
UPC : 043396152861

ASIN : B000I5Y8FU

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.ca

It begins with a solemn funeral…for a car. By the end of Chris Paine's lively and informative documentary, the idea doesn't seem quite so strange. As narrator Martin Sheen notes, "They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust and ran without gasoline." Paine proceeds to show how this unique vehicle came into being and why General Motors ended up reclaiming its once-prized creation less than a decade later. He begins 100 years ago with the original electric car. By the 1920s, the internal-combustion engine had rendered it obsolete. By the 1980s, however, car companies started exploring alternative energy sources, like solar power. This, in turn, led to the late, great battery-powered EV1. Throughout, Paine deftly translates hard science and complex politics, such as California's Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate, into lay person's terms (director Alex Gibney, Oscar-nominated for Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, served as consulting producer). And everyone gets the chance to have their say: engineers, politicians, protesters, and petroleum spokespeople--even celebrity drivers, like Peter Horton, Alexandra Paul, and a wild man beard-sporting Mel Gibson. But the most persuasive participant is former Saturn employee Chelsea Sexton. Promoting the benefits of the EV1 was more than a job to her, and she continues to lobby for more environmentally friendly options. Sexton provides the small ray of hope Paine's film so desperately needs. Who Killed the Electric Car? is, otherwise, a tremendously sobering experience. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Stills from Who Killed the Electric Car? (click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

You will be electrified (2007-03-18)

Everyone can make a good guess as to who was the culprit and you will all be correct. This documentary shows the unleashing of such a great conspiracy that it almost defies belief. If you are sensitive to the point that you can not watch animal documentaries that show animals eating animals then you may not want to watch this documentary and the demise of the electric car is just as repulsive.The film starts of with some namby-pamby complaints about the environment. However it soon gets down to the nitty-gritty details of who and why the eclectic car had to be stamped out before you found out all the other great benefits of the most successful transformation since sliced bread.How many people think that the EV1 is still out there and soon they can get one?How many people were aware of the EV1 and other versions (Toyota's RAV 4) of the electric car?Today at lease we should have a hybrid plug-in.

Recommended (2006-11-17)

This film is a perfect companion piece to "An Inconvenient Truth" which, in a sense, presents audiences with a problem that "Who Killed the Electric Car?" offers a large part of the solution to. Paine's film looks at the rise and fall of California's ZEV (Zero Emission Vehicle) mandate which forced automakers to produce technologically advanced vehicles like the GM EV1. Anyone driving a hybrid today, or considering purchasing one, will readily see the tremendous debt owed to the pioneering advancements made in the EV1. Ultimately, the film's appeal extends well beyond the bounds of auto enthusiasts as the issues involved represent much of what is so topical today; high gas prices, pollution, and instability in the oil supplying nations. "Electric Car..." features a well rounded variety of interviews with engineers and scientists, automotive industry experts, the petroleum lobby, everyday drivers, and energy experts. It manages to be engrossing, enlightening, and surprisingly, quite fun at the right moments. Take a break from watching the price of oil skyrocket and watch this DVD!

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