Who Killed the Electric Car?

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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 5/5 Stars •  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 3.5/5 Stars •  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 4/5 Stars •  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 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Repetitively tedious. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Audience Member No major surprises, but very detailed and well put together. Infuriating, of course. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Who Killed the Electric Car?

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