Who Killed the Electric Car?

Unrated

8/4/20061h 32m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ A lack of consumer confidence... or conspiracy? ~

Overview:

In 1996, electric cars began to appear on roads all over California. They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust, and ran without gasoline... Ten years later, these cars were destroyed.

Director:

Chris Paine

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$1,000,000.00

Revenue:

$1,678,874.00

Key words:

energy supply
automobile industry

Cast

Martin Sheen

~ as ~

Narrator (voice)

Mel Gibson

~ as ~

Self

Chelsea Sexton

~ as ~

Self

Tom Hanks

~ as ~

Self (archive footage)

Reverend Gadget

~ as ~

Self (as Greg 'Gadget' Abbott)

Ed Begley Jr.

~ as ~

Self

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

r
rsanek
Written 4 year(s) ago
7
Interesting albeit very biased perspective on early electric car attempts. The film could have spent more time on describing the older electric car technology -- I was unaware that in the early 1900s there were, in fact, already cars that didn't run just on gasoline. I found it laughable when, near the end of the movie, the creators assess that essentially everyone, including car companies, oil companies, CARB, even consumers (!) are to blame for electric's downfall. I think you could convince me of car & oil companies, but it's a real stretch to say that a regulator that simply didn't adopt stricter guidelines 'killed' an industry, or that people did because they didn't buy this amazing product.

Overall, OK, but would not recommend unless you're really into electric cars.