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Who Killed the Electric Car?

PG Released Jan 23, 2006 1h 32m Documentary List
89% Tomatometer 106 Reviews 84% Audience Score 25,000+ Ratings
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. Read More Read Less
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Who Killed the Electric Car?

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Who Killed the Electric Car?

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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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Critics Reviews

View All (106) Critics Reviews
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

Audience Reviews

View All (1000+) audience reviews
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 Read all reviews
Who Killed the Electric Car?

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

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
Jessie Deeter
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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