Who Killed the Electric Car?

2006·United States·92 min.
Who Killed the Electric Car?
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Filmmaker Chris Payne explores the many factors that played into the ultimate failure of the electric car to catch on with consumers, even as gas prices began to skyrocket, in a thoughtful meditation on the increasingly important role that renewable energy plays in modern society. Introduced as a means of providing an alternative to increasing oil consumption and reducing pollution in 1996, the electric car was an all-but-forgotten memory only a decade later -- but why? Through interviews with consumer advocacy experts, automotive industry experts, and oil industry heavyweights, Payne paints a thought-provoking picture of a culture whose aversion to change and reliance on dwindling resources may be rooted in the financial concerns of a wealthy few, and may also be leading consumers down a troubling path.

DirectorChris Paine
ScreenwriterChris Paine
CinematographyThaddeus Wadleigh
Original titleWho Killed the Electric Car?