Who Killed the Electric Car?

The film, Who Killed The Electric Car?, presented a topic that I am very unfamiliar with. The disappearance of the electric car is something that I never gave much thought to, until now. The truth is the electric car, beneficial to the environment or not, is something that automobile and oil companies don’t want consumers to know about.

The way the argument was presented in the movie was interesting. It laid much of the blame for the disappearing cars on oil and automobile companies, and the federal government. It also laid some of the blame on consumers, though, which is where I disagree. A woman who was on the task force for the EV1, the electric car that was actually sold, used, then retracted by GM in California, said a very interesting quote.  “You can get people to buy anything if you present it to them in the right way, and by presenting all of the negatives and inadequacies’ to a regular first and foremost, of course you aren’t going to sell cars.”

She explained throughout multiple parts of the film her battle with getting GM to financially support the sales of the electric car. They were very resistant, and no matter what she tried, they refused to believe that there was enough demand.  The task force proved that there was enough demand, but GM still wouldn’t have it.

I believe the killers of the electric car are the oil companies and automobile companies, both of which who play a huge role in the Federal Government. The automobile industry and oil industry work off of each other, once the demand for oil goes down because of the electric car, the support from the oil industries will go down too. I think the two industries are too scared to jeopardize the relationship they have with each other and with consumers right now.  They will do whatever it takes to keep the money flowing into their pockets.

When the foreign oil supply dries up, maybe the automobile companies will be a little quicker to jump on the decision to make and mass produce an electric car. Consumers will adapt quickly and follow the trend.