Filmmaker examines demise of beloved electric car

Chris Casey, (Bio) ccasey@greeleytrib.com
March 27, 2008

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More than a decade ago, filmmaker Chris Paine fell in love with an electric car.

It was a General Motors-made EV1, one of hundreds leased by California as part of the state's zero-emission vehicle regulation. But the romance ended when GM scrapped the program several years later, taking back all the EV1s and ultimately squashing them in the Arizona desert.

That left Paine with a broken heart and an idea about -- for a measure of revenge -- a black comedy on the ill-fated EV1.

Paine told that story, and his process in making "Who Killed the Electric Car?" a critically acclaimed 2006 documentary, at the University of Northern Colorado Wednesday night. About 75 people attended the lecture, which included clips from the film.

He explained that the process of making a documentary is akin to writing an essay for the modern audience.

He said "Hearts and Minds," a 1974 documentary about cluster bombing in the Vietnam War, changed his mind from joining the Air Force to becoming an anti-war activist.

His activism branched into environmental causes.

When electric cars became available in California in the 1990s, he leased the EV1. "Within about 30 days of driving this car for the first time, I became an addict for electric cars. The principal reason was because they were so fast."

Ultimately, the knock against electric cars was that they don't knock, Paine said. While many things factored into the cars' demise -- from corporate and political pressure to tepid consumer demand -- the fact they don't require replacement parts is a major downfall, Paine said.

The combustible engine is revered because of its many moving parts, which keeps the lucrative back-end businesses of repair and replacement parts revving along, he said.

Now, however, with gas prices soaring and demand for fuel economy rising, automakers are returning to electric, he said. Vehicles that mix plug-in energy for the first 60 miles or so then kick into gas power for longer trips are gaining favor. Automakers "like it because it fits their business model" of still requiring repairs and service.

"It all comes down to conservation and efficiency," Paine said. "Electric cars are very efficient ... You're just driving a motor. You're not driving an engine with hundreds of moving parts."

Back in the 1990s, carmakers' advertising for the EV1s didn't help boost lukewarm consumer response, Paine said. The spots seemed more to scare buyers than entice them.

He said when the government took back all the EV1s, owners, including himself, staged a mock funeral.

"That night on the news the story was electric car drivers say goodbye to electric cars and hello to hydrogen," Paine said. "We (the car owners) had never even talked about hydrogen."

Paine's approach to the film changed dramatically from a comedy about the short-lived electric car to a deeper probe into why they were scrapped. He'd received a tip that the carmakers would be destroying the electric cars in the desert.

"That was a big break for us. That's when the movie went from being a comedy to being a murder mystery."

He's toying with a follow-up, possibly called "The Revival of the Electric Car." The response to his first electric car film?

"GM was not thrilled by our movie and neither were all the other car makers."

And that's where some of the fun comes in. But Paine said he's out to make as balanced a film as possible and let the audience make up its mind on the issue.

"That's why (documentary filmmaker) Michael Moore gets in so much trouble," Paine said, "because you feel he's already made up his mind."