We recently (finally) saw "Who Killed The Electric Car?". I had a few minor problems with the movie, but it's very informative, and worth seeing.
It was especially interesting to see this movie as the North American auto makers are asking the government - that is, the taxpayers - for enormous sums of money to save their dying business.
Would this money be attached to guarantees to build and market more fuel efficient vehicles? We know the vehicles already exist, all they have to do is build and sell them - instead of suppressing and destroying them.
Would this money even be attached to a guarantee of jobs in North America?
Neither will happen, and neither should this bailout.
Meanwhile, if you haven't seen this movie, please do. I felt it could have come down much harder on the US government and its connection to oil wealth, and I don't feel the consumer can be rightly blamed for the failure of the electric car, according to what we saw in the movie itself. But those are small disagreements. Overall, it's an important film.
To learn more or to get involved, visit the website of Plug In America, the activist group pressuring the auto industry to bring back the electric car that they so loved.
5 comments:
That is a very important film. Am I remembering right that the film gave a rundown of the history of the auto/oil industry destroying early 20th century electric vehicles and public transport and showed the tentative offerings of electric cars in the 90s, the ones that consumers wanted but were never really allowed to own, but then they had a few people commenting that it was all consumer driven, that in the 90s consumers just mysteriously started demanding those huge, inefficient trucks that came to be called SUVs? And this when the film had just shown that it was corporate manipulation on a massive scale that shaped what was available and practical for people? If I am remembering that right, it was odd.
On this same topic, a friend and I were talking recently about how strange it was that small vehicles and hatchbacks were very popular in the US in the 70s and 80s, even small pickups, but then in the early 90s US automakers started making cars larger, increased the number of large trucks, and severely reduced the number of hatchbacks available. The hatchback reduction was very odd, because in the 80s even Corvettes were hatchbacks and there were lots of 4-door hatchbacks. It's like the corporations tried to force the public into a situation where, if they wanted utility, they would have to go for a huge truck. Meanwhile in Europe, many models no longer available as hatchbacks in the US were still available as hatchbacks.
And this when the film had just shown that it was corporate manipulation on a massive scale that shaped what was available and practical for people?
The whole film showed how once consumers knew about these cars, they were clamouring for them, but how most people had no idea they existed. And how the makers of these cars did everything possible to keep them from the public, and how government agencies utterly caved to that.
Then at the end, when they render "verdicts", some factors guilty, some not guilty, they declare consumers guilty. Which they very clearly were not.
They also allowed a statement to stand unchallenged that neo-cons making war in the Middle East want to conserve resources and want oil prices to stay low!
It's like the corporations tried to force the public into a situation where, if they wanted utility, they would have to go for a huge truck.
Exactly. And the government allowed them to classify a gigantic vehicle as a car instead of a truck, to avoid higher fuel efficiency standards.
Start-Up Company Plans Electric-Car Network (San Francisco, Bay Area)
Wall Street Journal
Better Place, a start-up company developing technology to support electric cars, Thursday announced plans for a $1 billion network to charge electric cars in the San Francisco Bay Area as part of a broad push into the U.S.
The closely held Palo Alto, Calif., company, founded by former SAP AG executive Shai Agassi in 2007, already is building networks for electric cars in Israel and Denmark and in October announced plans to expand into Australia. The company said it would now move into the U.S. market, with construction of battery-recharging stations in the Bay Area starting in 2010. ...
***
I've heard 2 interesting pieces on NPR recently concerning this subject. The first was a short story about the Tesla, a "plug-in" electric car with Ferrari-like performance numbers, and a price tag to match. The second was a segment on "Talk of the Nation" that spent most of their 45 minutes on this subject. The guests inluded Sherry Boschert, vice-president of Plug In America, as well as a director from the California Institute of Transportation, a tech officer from Tesla Motors, and an engineer from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado. Among other things, they discuss the EV1, the GM electric car from the late 90s. When pressure from corporate America pushed California to drop their mandates regarding electric autos, GM recalled and destroyed all of them.
From the NPR.org site you can find and hear or download both shows, and get an objective look at the Plug In America group. I like what I hear. The Talk of the Nation show was from Nov. 21. The shorter 5-minute piece on the Tesla was from the Nov. 19 edition of All Things Considered.
One of these days I'll take the time to figure out how to do the direct link thing :)
Thanks SoSock! "Who Killed The Electric Car?" is all about the EV1. GM did recall and destroy all the cars, but first they made it nearly impossible for people to buy them. The people lucky enough to own them LOVED them, but most people didn't know they existed.
On CBC Radio (while driving - the only time I listen to the radio), I heard about a start-up company in Quebec that has a prototype for an electric car. They're working on getting funding to produce them.
Post a Comment