Another Film

[ulfdog]

I’m hoping one of the Komrades can help. I’m trying to remember the name of a documentary; I think it’s something about killing the electric car. It’s a film about the electric car built by GM and was lease thru Saturn in the mid or late nineties. Then for some reason they were recalled and from what I heard they were taken out to the desert somewhere where they were destroyed. If anyone knows the name of the film, I would appreciate any information.

[Tiffany]

Ulfdog,

Yes, I have heard of this movie and it does sound like a good one. It's called "who killed the electric car" and I believe it was released in 2006. I noticed I already had that one lined up in my netflix queue:). Also, there is a great web site I found called FreeDocumentaries.org where you can watch dozens of great movies for free. Although, I don't think electric car is on there:(.

~~Tiffany~~

[ulfdog]

Tiffany,

Thanks for the information, now that I know what I’m looking for I’ll check out one of our local video store that specializes in foreign or films that the regular stores don’t usually carry. I’ll also check out the website to see what else they have.

[Tiffany]

I Finally got to see this movie. It was very interesting and I definitely recommend it:). It's Especially interesting if you live in California (and hate breathing smog) because the electric car was first introduced there.

Bring back the electric car!!!

[ulfdog]

Tiffany,

I have been meaning to see the movie, but I think I keep putting it off because I know it will bum me out. I remember when Saturn brought out their electric car I thought they weren’t a bad looking, but a little out of my price range. At that time I was working for a small HMO in Southern Californian and at the hospital where I worked they had even set up a few parking spots with charging stations in anticipation of future sales of electric cars. Unfortunately, the electric car never really took off and the SUV did.

What I find interesting is that about a year or so ago, either Dateline or 60 minutes ran a story about Brazil and how they were able to help their economy and clean up their air pollution by switching to cars that run on gas and ethanol, Flex Cars. What I really find amazing was that it was US car makers who were supplying the majority of these cars. One has to wonder if they had offered these cars in the US, maybe they wouldn’t now be going to congress with their hands out.

Lastly, I bet there are places in PA where the air is not so clean and easy to breath.

[Tiffany]

Ulfdog,

You are absolutely right, there are places everywhere (including PA) that the air is not so clean and easy to breath. I actually live on a busy main road and when the weather is nice in springtime and we open up our windows, the smell of exhaust can be quite unpleasant:(. The film focused mainly on Los Angeles, so I guess I should have narrowed that down more in my statement. Anyway...California was the first state that attempted to pass a law back in the early 1990's that would require car companies to produce a certain number of vehicles that had zero emissions by 2003. That is when the electric car was made and GM made a very poor attempt to market it in California. That plan completely fell apart when the car manufacturers actually sued the state for trying to impose such a law. After that GM ended up going for the "bigger, faster, stronger" approach and , as you mentioned, successfully marketed the SUV instead.

That is very interesting that you were in Southern California at the time and you were actually able to witness the possibility of a new era of automotive technology going on around you with the installation of charging stations for the Saturn EV1. Meanwhile, back here on the east coast, people really had no idea this was happening;).