Who Killed The Electric Car....?

[Yony Mazal]

Screening of "Who Killed The Electric Car?"
The real reason why the car inductry needs a bailout...
Event Info Host: Yony Mazal
Type: Meetings - Informational Meeting
Network: Ohio State
Time and Place Date: Monday, January 26, 2009
Time: 6:45pm - 9:00pm
Location: Spore Info Shop
Street: 172 E. Fifth Ave
City/Town: Columbus, OH
Contact Info Phone: 6145658848
Email: jrm...@gmail.com

Description: The movie deals with the history of the electric car, its
development and commercialization, mostly focusing on the General
Motors EV1, which was made available for lease in Southern California,
after the California Air Resources Board passed the ZEV mandate in
1990, as well as the implications of the events depicted for air
pollution, environmentalism, Middle East politics, and global warming.

The film details the California Air Resources Board's reversal of the
mandate after suits from automobile manufacturers, the oil industry,
and the George W. Bush administration. It points out that Bush's chief
influences, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, and Andrew Card, are all
former executives and board members of oil and auto companies.

A large part of the film accounts for GM's efforts to demonstrate to
California that there was no demand for their product, and then to
take back every EV1 and dispose of them. A few were disabled and given
to museums and universities, but almost all were found to have been
crushed; GM never responded to the EV drivers' offer to pay the
residual lease value ($1.9 million was offered for the remaining 78
cars in Burbank before they were crushed). Several activists are shown
being arrested in the protest that attempted to block the GM car
carriers taking the remaining EV1s off to be crushed.

The film explores some of the reasons that the auto and oil industries
worked to kill off the electric car. Wally Rippel is shown explaining
that the oil companies were afraid of losing out on trillions in
potential profit from their transportation fuel monopoly over the
coming decades, while the auto companies were afraid of losses over
the next six months of EV production. Others explained the killing
differently. GM spokesman Dave Barthmuss argued it was lack of
consumer interest due to the maximum range of 80–100 miles per charge,
and the relatively high price.

The film also explores the future of automobile technologies including
a deeply critical look at hydrogen vehicles and an upbeat discussion
of plug-in hybrid electric vehicle technologies.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6923835633598627078