Movie Recommendation: A Murder Mystery
Posted November 23rd, 2007 by davidv
In case anyone on CAN has not seen it yet, I highly recommend the film "Who Killed the Electric Car?" (2006). Watched it recently, on DVD. From the notes on the DVD cover: "A Lack of Consumer Confidence...or Conspiracy?... a murder mystery like no other...unravels the puzzling demise of General Motors' EV-1 " w/c ran solely on electricity.
The maintenance program for the EV-1 was every 5000 miles, rotate the tires and fill up the windshield washer fluid container.
It was made available for lease only and when the lease was up, the drivers (who loved the car bec. it handled very well, went fast -- to 75 mph, no emissions, very quiet) could not get GM to renew the leases. GM placed roadblocks in front of anyone who wanted the car. The EV-1 was on the road from 1996 to 2003. (I don't think I ever saw one. I did see the Honda electric car on the highway several times.)
There are gas to electric conversion kits available-- $8000 for the parts. For those interested, check out these sites devoted to those conversions:
(texomaev.com), (diyelectriccar.com/forums).
Re: Movie Recommendation: A Murder Mystery
Interesting new cars. There's also a European auto coming out '08 or '09 w/c runs on solar and wind energy.
Re: Movie Recommendation: A Murder Mystery
here's a hopeful post from the daily kos from 11/25 about cars tat fits in here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/11/25/16832/841
Re: Movie Recommendation: A Murder Mystery
This is yet another example of why a money-driven economy isn't the final answer. It tends to ignore what might be best for society. How can we add social justice to financial incentive, to create an economy for a better society? Community acupuncture is part of the answer. So is supporting community-minded local businesses that are altruistically-driven as well as profit-driven.
Marty Calliham
Re: Movie Recommendation: A Murder Mystery
It looks as if GM is very embarrassed about being fingered in the murdered of the EV. I just returned from the huge San Francisco car show, and GM has the largest green sign on the showroom, with videos and displays promoting their greenness. The star of the show, however, seems to the the Tango, a plug-in designed to fit two side-by-side in a highway lane, accelerates from 0-60 mph in 4 seconds, carries a passenger or a small cargo. It was designed and hand-built in Spokane, WA, by a father and son team, and is now selling for $108,000. They are looking for investors who will help them to start manufacturing the Tango in large numbers, so that the price could come down to $10,000 @. Their first customer is a VIP from Google, and they have orders for a few more.