Documentary Analysis: Who Killed The Electric Car?

In the documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car? “suspects” are taken a look at to discover the reason that the promising new electric car in the 1990s disappeared from commercial sales in the United States. Among the reasons for the death of the electric vehicle are consumers, big oil companies, car companies, government, hydrogen fuel cell cars, and technology. In the technological view, the electric car was thought to have problems in the source of its energy and how it would refuel when there were not numerous stations available. One of the main culprits of the technological aspects was the use of batteries. At the inception of the EV1 electric car produced by General Motors, the battery it ran on provided 60 miles to a charge. While this was suitable for daily commute, it was less suitable for long road trips. However, later discoveries and inventions led to batteries that provided 100 miles and even eventually 300 miles to a charge. The source of power and amount of mileage provided was not an issue. The creation of hydrogen cell vehicles also posed a threat to the electrical

The role of business in this problem began early on with the monopoly built on oil and factories. Manufacturers phased out electric cars in favor of cheap, readily available gas cars that swayed the public. Early on in the 1990s, business played a positive role in creating the electric car, however, they turned negative when profitability was not high enough. Oil and auto industry kept the electric car from becoming popular in an attempt to gain more money. In the process, politics was influenced to support oil and gas powered cars by removing mandates such as the zero emission mandate in California. Government played a large role, locally and federally, in creating policies that worked against creating commercialized electric