Time Is Energy

Autopsy of the EV1

This weekend I watched “Who Killed the Electric Car?” a documentary (with a good measure of advocacy thrown in) principally about the EV1 in California. For a period of about 6 years, GM and other major auto manufacturers made and leased electric cars in (southern) California in response to a state mandate. The automakers successfully defeated the mandate a few years ago, and then proceeded to recall and crush the hundreds of all electric vehicles (THEY USE ZERO GAS) they had put on the road. This movie explores the possible reasons why in mock detective style.

The saddest thing for me is knowing that electric cars are the best current solution to Peak Oil and a very good solution for global warming. The movie makes clear that this technology worked, and could be helping us solve a whole series of problems...instead a single model sits in an auto museum. I want my next car to be all electric, but it may prove too long a wait. Instead I will probably have to settle for a hybrid. I’ve heard of the Tesla sports car, but that is a limited run and the average net worth of the buyer on their waiting list is north of $1 billion. As recently as 3 years ago all electric cars were available in California, no longer.

I can only reaffirm my commitment that my next car will get significantly better mileage (my Honda Accord gets ~28 MPG average).

posted by Daniel @ 3:24 PM