Who Killed the Electric Car?
Originally uploaded by patpatz
Have you heard of the Honda EV1?
Unless you lived in California in the 1990s, chances are you've never seen or heard of Honda's electric vehicle. The car debuted in 1996 and were only available for lease. Ten years later, when the leases were up, every last EV1 was recalled and destroyed.
The documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car?
The film points at the usual suspects: big oil, battery companies, car companies, government. Only briefly does it consider consumer demand, skirting over the fact that most people driving EV1's were multi-million dollar movie stars and CEOs.
Still, despite its overwhelming leftward stance (aren't all documentaries these days?), it's a great story. Of all interviewees, the shining star is Chelsea Sexton, former EV1 Sales Specialist and current Executive Director of Plug In America, a coalition that advocates for the preservation and manufacture of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. She exudes love for the EV1, her "baby", and it's impossible not to sympathize with her as she cries through her eulogy at EV1's "funeral".
It's a movie worth watching. But it's also worth wondering - what would a movie of this kind be like if it were truly unbiased? What do automakers have to say when they aren't playing defense?
NPR recently aired an interview with Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrysler, who admits that American car companies simply missed the boat on electric vehicles and hybrids, paving the way for Toyota to take over as world's' biggest car company. "It seems to me we need something like the Manhattan Project," Iacocca says. "We need some urgency saying, 'Here's what we should be doing. We've got to get off fossil fuels.'"
Who Killed the Electric Car? features a clip of EV activists line up outside a car lot full of EV1's destined for the shredder. The protesters are a peaceful, meager lot, dutifully wearing their hand-painted signs and carefully manicured dreadlocks. They look hopelessly weak and powerless against the army of EV-stacked semi trucks (less intimidating are the portly police officers and their silly batons).
If activists are powerless to "save" the electric car, then maybe people with power, money and ingenuity can save the day. I'd like to see Who Will Save the Electric Car?, a film about automakers, moneyed inventors, and adamant car nerds. Something that builds excitement rather than resentment.
I close with another quote from Mr. Iacocca, as seen in The Boston Globe:
I am most impressed by those who are dedicated to giving something back. I admire the genuine philanthropic spirit of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. They are a refreshing counterbalance to the many examples of corporate greed we've seen in the last decade - the guys getting led away in handcuffs...I have to confess that like many business people - especially in the car industry - I came late to enlightenment on global warming and the energy crisis. But now I'm making up for lost time. Automakers have to get aggressive about building hybrids. Why is General Motors building Hummers? That doesn't make sense. I'll go a step further: I think we should raise the gas tax and spend the money on developing alternatives to oil. Let's face it, finding more oil does not constitute an energy policy.
