Who Killed the Electric Car?

[Sad Society]

I watched a movie documentary the other night called 'Who Killed the Electric Car?' It was about the Electric Car that was made by General Motors.

People had leased out these cars from GM that ran completely on electricity and did not rely on any gasoline. GM did not sell any of these cars but instead people were allowed to lease them out.

Then one day GM took all the cars back. People wanted to keep the cars and keep leasing them out but GM would not let them. People protested against this action, and even offered a check for 1.9 million to buy the cars but GM did not budge on it's decision. GM eventually destroyed all the cars, so they say in the documentary.

I can't remember what the name of the car was called, but they said these cars drove about 60 miles on one charge of the battery.

The documentary talked about the supposed reasons why GM took the cars away and who was to blame for destroying these cars. Did big oil companies pay GM off? Was it all of GM's doing? Who knows.

When they started talking about big oil campanies opposing electric cars, I was thinking of how that was just about the same as big tobacco opposing electronic cigarettes.

But unlike the electric car, big tobacco can't take our ecigs away. They can however try and make them illegal to sell and use.

We need to fight back and sign the petitions that need to be signed, and kindly inform the public about ecigs. You may think 'Well I don't live in that state or that country so who cares if they ban them over there.' But what if you eventually visited that place? I'm sure you would want to vape there.

So lets all help each other out.

Thank You for reading this.

 

[tunabubblegum]

I watched a movie documentary the other night called 'Who Killed the Electric Car?' It was about the Electric Car that was made by General Motors.

People had leased out these cars from GM that ran completely on electricity and did not rely on any gasoline. GM did not sell any of these cars but instead people were allowed to lease them out.

Then one day GM took all the cars back. People wanted to keep the cars and keep leasing them out but GM would not let them. People protested against this action, and even offered a check for 1.9 million to buy the cars but GM did not budge on it's decision. GM eventually destroyed all the cars, so they say in the documentary.

I can't remember what the name of the car was called, but they said these cars drove about 60 miles on one charge of the battery.

The documentary talked about the supposed reasons why GM took the cars away and who was to blame for destroying these cars. Did big oil companies pay GM off? Was it all of GM's doing? Who knows.

When they started talking about big oil campanies opposing electric cars, I was thinking of how that was just about the same as big tobacco opposing electronic cigarettes.

But unlike the electric car, big tobacco can't take our ecigs away. They can however try and make them illegal to sell and use.

We need to fight back and sign the petitions that need to be signed, and kindly inform the public about ecigs. You may think 'Well I don't live in that state or that country so who cares if they ban them over there.' But what if you eventually visited that place? I'm sure you would want to vape there.

So lets all help each other out.

Thank You for reading this.

I imagine the big oil companies and their lobbies had alot to do with the demise of the electric (and other technologies) cars.

I remember seeing them in the parade for Carter's inauguration (I think it was Carter! )

At the time, there was alot of excitement over the idea (albiet, short lived!!)
Would have made a great "city" car.

 

[PlanetScribbles]

I saw the movie a couple of years ago. The car was called the EV1, and it would seem that GM attempted to supress the technology.

 

[Pav]

This is a pretty bad movie. Other automakers had electric vehicles too (Ford & Toyota) and also abandoned selling them. The technology was not ready for prime time in the mid 90s. Today we have lots of hybrids and full electrics will be back soon with much improved battery technology.

 

[Sad Society]

Thats right it was the EV1.

 

[PlanetScribbles]

This is a pretty bad movie. Other automakers had electric vehicles too (Ford & Toyota) and also abandoned selling them. The technology was not ready for prime time in the mid 90s. Today we have lots of hybrids and full electrics will be back soon with much improved battery technology.

Martin Sheen's lefty 'conspiracy theorist' commentary took from it's credibility. I don't know why they didn't just hire Michael Moore and be done with it lol
But I did think the film had something to say that needed saying.

 

[Lab]

there is a lot of electric cars out.. it is just that the battery for them is not good enough to be worth using.. 60 miles = 1 hour drive time.. that then takes 12 hours to charge.. the only way they would be feasible would be local city drives and only if parking garages put in plugs for the cars to charge while parked..

 

[BigJimW]

I remember the EV1. GM discontinued them and repossessed the cars not because of the oil companies, The cars were money sinks to GM. They only leased about 800 of them and they were spending over a billion dollars just to manufacteur and maintain the vehicles. As GM discontinued this, they realized that due to liability issues, they had to repossess all the cars and destroy them and not sell them to the general public. The last thing GM wanted was a lawsuit slapped on them if a private owner tries a repair that causes the car to be destroyed and the owner loss of life.

It wasn't really a conspiracy. It was common business sense. The technology is still there, but as Lab pointed out here, driving a car for 60 miles and have to charge the batteries for 12 hours beforehand for an hours drive was not economically feasible. We have much better technology today to develop a much better e-car (perhaps also put in a 2 amp USB port to plug your e-cig passthrough in as a standard option, eh? ) than we had back in the 90s, with better battery technology. The day of the e-car is coming.

That's what happened to most of them. A shame, they were a slick looking car too.

Pretty slick interior too

 

[gatsby]

there is a lot of electric cars out.. it is just that the battery for them is not good enough to be worth using.. 60 miles = 1 hour drive time.. that then takes 12 hours to charge.. the only way they would be feasible would be local city drives and only if parking garages put in plugs for the cars to charge while parked..

A very large percentage of US commuters drive less than 60 miles per day. The e-car is pretty useless as someone's only car, but there is a market of 2 car households that could make it work fine. The issue really is making it cheap enough to be purchased as a commuter car. My wife and I are a perfect example since she drive between 10-15 miles to catch her train, I drive even less than that and in the evenings and weekends we are usually in the same car so a cheap e-car would work great for us. To me this is one of those issues that has been doomed by the politicization of it. GM had its hand forced by CA and was never behind the car. It was a short term loser, but if they had stuck with it they would be so far ahead of that game it would have saved their butts. Remember that the gas engine car was a play thing of the very rich for quite awhile until the technology developed to make it affordable. There are enough rich folks looking for the status to have moved the market forward to the point where we would now likely have cheap 60 mile commuters (but probably not much more) and GM would be selling them to us. Hopefully enough rich folks buy Teslas and 5-10 years from now we get our cheap commuters. (BTW having plugs in parking spots isn't that tough of a trick. There existed when I lived in the frigid northland. When I still drove my MN car down here in the SW people would occasionally ask me about the plug hanging out of the grill thinking I had an e-car).

 

[Quick1]

The issue really is making it cheap enough to be purchased as a commuter car. My wife and I are a perfect example since she drive between 10-15 miles to catch her train, I drive even less than that and in the evenings and weekends we are usually in the same car so a cheap e-car would work great for us. To me this is one of those issues that has been doomed by the politicization of it.

bzzzt. non-starter. You would not buy one.

 

[gatsby]

bzzzt. non-starter. You would not buy one.

Thanks for telling me what I would do. I think this is a perfect example of what I was talking about concerning the politicization of the issue. Captain Debate Team here comes in for the 'e-kill', thinks he was part of the discussion and the issue is decided. Time for pie.

 

[Quick1]

You only explicitly mentioned twice in your post that a CHEAP second commuter car would be a requirement given the contraints of the EV1? Further more that you're a couple implying that a second car would be feasible. All this in the context of saying it died due to being politicized in response to the very compelling post about it simply being a business decision... I wouldn't presume to tell you what you'd do. I just repeated what you said you'd do.

 

[BigJimW]

YouTube - Blast From the Past: A look back at the EV1

 

[River]

My fav is this one and it's available right now.

Tesla Motors - High performance electric vehicles. Available now.

Be sure to look at the Model S.

http://www.teslamotors.com/models/

 

[gatsby]

You only explicitly mentioned twice in your post that a CHEAP second commuter car would be a requirement given the contraints of the EV1? Further more that you're a couple implying that a second car would be feasible. All this in the context of saying it died due to being politicized in response to the very compelling post about it simply being a business decision... I wouldn't presume to tell you what you'd do. I just repeated what you said you'd do.

Shh. Its bad form to try to explain yourself after a snide zinger. You apparently didn't read the post. I will simplify. First, they need to be in production and that would mean that they will be over-priced status symbols (new things always are), then they have the opportunity to become reasonably priced production cars making them priced in the range of a second car. Then as a couple who usually only drives in separate cars for commutes and short errands (most of the time) we would be very interested in replacing our 2nd car (a little commuter car) with an electric car. Funny, but to me that does not sound like a scenario that is rare or strange (or political). In fact that seems like the situation the majority of married couples find themselves in. Now that I think about it thats crazy. I would never buy an e-car.

 

[Janetda]

As to the OP, I watched the movie too and had the same thoughts, although I don't agree that BT that is the problem. It would be great to have a movie something like this discuss the anti-tobacco movement and the resulting consequences for snus and e-cigs. Throw in some BP, FDA and taxes and I think you've a pretty compelling documentary.

 

[Quick1]

To me this is one of those issues that has been doomed by the politicization of it. GM had its hand forced by CA and was never behind the car.

Shh. Its bad form to try to explain yourself after a snide zinger. You apparently didn't read the post. I will simplify.

My bad. I mistakenly thought you were commenting (in part) on why the EV1 was killed.

 

[cyberwolfrob]

damn....just when I thought the prius was bad. Well this thing is even uglier

 

[Quick1]

damn....just when I thought the prius was bad. Well this thing is even uglier

Haha, killed due to excessive ugliness (my parents owned a Pacer for a while). The Tesla might work for you. I've seen a couple around here. Very nice. They are a little bit smaller than you would think from the pictures. About the size of a Lotus.

 

[Thornak]

I watched a movie documentary the other night called 'Who Killed the Electric Car?' It was about the Electric Car that was made by General Motors.

The technology was too expensive and people were afraid they would be stuck somewhere unable to recharge. Plus recharge stations to power up took over a half hour. Just too many hurdles in the technology back then.