Who Killed the Electric Car?

PG

Released Jan 23, 2006

1h 32m

Documentary

List

89%

106 Reviews

Tomatometer

84%

25,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Following a strict mandate on air emissions in California, General Motors launches the EV-1 in 1997. It is an electric automobile that requires no gas, oil, muffler or brake changes and is, seemingly, the world's first perfect car. Yet six years later, GM recalls and destroys the EV-1 fleet. Filmmaker Chris Paine examines the birth and death of a revolutionary vehicle.

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Critics Consensus

A searing indictment of big business and greed, Who Killed The Electric Car? is a well-tuned doc that simultaneously entertains and enrages.

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david f

This documentary about General Motors' flirtation with electric cars in the 1990s is an absolutely fascinating look at a weird digression in automotive history that now seems like an incredible missed opportunity in light of that car company's going all in on electric vehicles. It starts out with the startling statistic that most cars actually were electric about a hundred years ago and then it tells the tale of the EV1, a GM Saturn product marketed to Californians in the 90s that was killed off in a dirty mix of corporate chicanery, governmental malfeasance, and Big Oil scheming. Watching this movie from the perspective of 2021 is crazy. Watching it from 2035 when GM is supposed to be all electric is gonna be even crazier. I think this movie will just get better with age. Amazingly according to Wikipedia there's basically one of these cars left in working order-it's in the Smithsonian, a museum that will only accept "intact specimens" for its collection.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Wow, even though this documentary was made in 2006, it's still an eye-opening look at GM, California and the electric car. Really interesting and some of it was just jaw dropping. Martin Sheen narrates it, but look for celebrities (Tom Hanks and Mel Gibson) and politicians (a few former presidents) as well. I really enjoyed it.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Generally informative with a recognizably solid structure that the genre frequently follows from hooking up engagement to questions and interviews as arguable portions for backed-up claims that leads into revelatory answers. The basis point is easily understandable with further elaboration for attempted clarity into that prior knowledge, but the flowing discussion seems to be more interested to those with automobile knowledge that reflects their hobby/fascination into cars. (B+) (Full review TBD)

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

With nearly a decade of hindsight, I've changed my opinion about this film. The movie disregarded a single factor: safety. Electric car batteries in their infancy were notoriously unsafe, as we now know. That GM pulled the cars off the market was, in my opinion, probably due to the fact that they were potential deathtraps. We now know that it has taken Tesla years to make the batteries less flammable and less prone to explosion due to impact. It's pretty clear that GM probably knew this and knew that the cars were catastrophes waiting to happen.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

Full Review

william s

This movie pissed me off and gets you thinking....the sign off a great documentary.Thank god they only where able to put it off some and not actually kill it,

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Repetitively tedious.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

Full Review

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Chris Paine

Director

Martin Sheen

Narrator

Reverend Gadget

Actor

Ed Begley Jr.

Actor

Phyllis Diller

Actor

Colette Divine

Actor

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Owen Gleiberman

Entertainment Weekly

Rated: A-

Sep 7, 2011

Full Review

Rob Nelson

Village Voice

Another few of these squandered opportunities for art-house muckraking and we'll need someone to ask who killed the left-wing documentary.

Aug 27, 2009

Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Chris Paine's documentary about General Motors' development and withdrawal of the innovative, environment-friendly EV1 automobile is bound to reverberate with anyone who's fallen in love with a product only to see it irrevocably yanked from the market.

Mar 21, 2008

Full Review

Debbie Lynn Elias

Behind The Lens

Opening with a tongue-in-cheek funeral for the electric car, [Chris] Paine gives us lessons in the environment, history, politics, finance, and let's face it - stupidity, as we follow the demise of the EV-1.

Nov 6, 2019

Full Review

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

The film shows how politicians on both sides of the isle conspired with oil companies and car manufacturers to rob our ecology of one of its most promising assets.

Rated: A-

Apr 23, 2009

Full Review

Jonathan Kiefer

Sacramento News & Review

Rated: 3/5

Aug 7, 2008

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

Following a strict mandate on air emissions in California, General Motors launches the EV-1 in 1997. It is an electric automobile that requires no gas, oil, muffler or brake changes and is, seemingly, the world's first perfect car. Yet six years later, GM recalls and destroys the EV-1 fleet. Filmmaker Chris Paine examines the birth and death of a revolutionary vehicle.

Director: Chris Paine
Producer: Dean Devlin, Richard D. Titus, Tavin Marin Titus
Screenwriter: Chris Paine
Production Co: Electric Entertainment, Plinyminor
Rating: PG (Brief Mild Language)
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 23, 2006, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Jun 28, 2006
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 16, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.7M
Runtime: 1h 32m

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