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Who Killed the Electric Car?

194 votes

In 1996, electric cars began to appear on roads all over California. They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust, and ran without gasoline... Ten years later, these cars were destroyed.

Status: Released

Released Date: 2006-08-04

Runtime: 92 mins

Director: Chris Paine

Writer: Chris Paine

Spoken language: Magyar, Français, English

Genres: Documentary

Original title: Who Killed the Electric Car?

Production Companies: Plinyminor, Electric Entertainment, Papercut Films

Production Countries: United States of America

Cast

Narrator (voice)

Martin Sheen

Self

Mel Gibson

Self

Chelsea Sexton

Self (archive footage)

Tom Hanks

Self (as Greg 'Gadget' Abbott)

Reverend Gadget

Self

Ed Begley Jr.

Electric Car Collection

3.6

Who Killed the Electric Car?

2006-08-04

In 1996, electric cars began to appear on roads all over California. They were quiet and fast, produ

3.6

Revenge of the Electric Car

2011-10-21

A sequel to 2006's Who Killed the Electric Car?, director Chris Paine once again looks at electric v

Reviews

rsanek

Interesting albeit very biased perspective on early electric car attempts. The film could have spent more time on describing the older electric car technology -- I was unaware that in the early 1900s there were, in fact, already cars that didn't run just on gasoline. I found it laughable when, near the end of the movie, the creators assess that essentially everyone, including car companies, oil companies, CARB, even consumers (!) are to blame for electric's downfall. I think you could convince me of car & oil companies, but it's a real stretch to say that a regulator that simply didn't adopt stricter guidelines 'killed' an industry, or that people did because they didn't buy this amazing product. Overall, OK, but would not recommend unless you're really into electric cars.

2020-07-27

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