Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Who Killed The Electric Car?

The movie entitled Who killed The Electric Car describes the life of the electric car in America and more specifically in California.

The film starts off with a description of the Ford EV1, a revolutionary electric car that caught the attention of many consumers. Then out of no where, the company General Motors decides to get rid of all the EV1s in California (the car was originally started in California). General Motors would seize all the cars and destroy them. The reason for this was unknown. The movie goes on an investigation of who or what killed the electric car, taking into account a whole bunch of different factors some of which include Batteries, the consumers, the government, oil companies, car companies and the competition of Hydrogen cars. This movie ends up by detailing who they think killed the electric car and why.

It is a very interesting movie that really shows us how corrupt some of these corporations are and refuse to make progress for the sake of making money. I strongly recommended watching it.

Some questions to think about are why people are doing this and what interest are they gaining. This issue of the electric car can also be related to the more overarching problem of how those in power seem to have more of a priority for their own personal benefits than the benefits of society.

2 comments:

mike adams said...

This movie really moved me- i was discouraged by the fact the cars were scrapped, literally, after the leasees were told that would not happen.

But i was greatly encouraged by the easy of use for cars that are not a thing of the future but actually existed and have been built by current car companies with current technology- and the batteries have only gotten better over the years.

The question is when will those who hold patents on the battery technology allow them to be used?

Well that is just one question that this movie sparked in me.

Another would be where do I get an electric car- they certainly seem easy to work on.

There may be forces beyond our control.

Thanks J.

Jensen said...

I didn't actually watch this movie yet, but I have some comments anyway.

I don't really know very much about electric cars, but I'm guessing that like many other environmentally-friendly technologies they are expensive both to create and maintain. In light of that, I would guess that the car companies would not really see electric cars as a desireable product, since they wont reap a very large profit and wouldn't yield the same fast cash other products do. Companies tend not to be the most altruistic of things--they are often not really concerned with what is safer or better for the environment; their interest lies more in what is cheapest to make and in highest demand.

I'm a little confused as to why all of the cars were just recalled after production (probably because I didn't see the movie): was this due to patent restrictions, company regulations, etc?

I also had some other questions I would like to possibly discuss during class or here on this and related topics:
How popular are electric cars now, and how easy or difficult are they to maintain and produce?
How much more efficient and environmentally safe are electric cars than hybrid cars? Than regular cars?