Automakers, Bailouts & The Electric Car

The fate of the "Big 3" American automakers has been in the news alot lately. So far, its gone pretty much like this. Inept CEOs arrive in DC to beg for a bailout. Politicians pander to score points by berating their traveling methods. The right wing seizes on the moment to explicably blame unions for the mess, and float inaccurate claims about the pay of workers. Millions of jobs directly and indirectly related to the industry lay in the balance. And the entire farce turns into a dog-and-pony show in which the public is treated to the bizarre scene of corporate executives driving their own low-selling products to another begging session. The markets rally and fall as everything from Madison Avenue's ad revenues to automotive parts suppliers look on anxiously.

In what has become the Democrats ritualistic captiulation to even a lameduck Bush White House, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently reached an agreement on about $15 billion in bailout loans for the beleaguered auto industry--with the caveat, insisted by Bush, that the money come from funds previously allocated for--wait for it--greener cars.

Oh will the irony never cease. Because one of the Big 3 automakers now set to gain monies from that fund at one time produced a very green car---and also helped kill it. Ever heard of the Electric Car?



The 2006 documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? explores the creation, limited commercialization, and eventual demise (by self-destruction) of a battery operated electric vehicle known as the EV1. Produced by General Motors, the EV1 was was allowed to be leased by a few individuals in Southern California--many of them actors, like Tom Hanks, who went on David Letterman to sing its praises.

However, its successful roll-out and the threat it posed for a global oil dependent economy, sealed its fate. Like something out of a left-leaning Matt Damon-George Clooney thriller, an array of forces ranging from major auto manufacturers to the oil industry--helped along by powerful figures inlcuding Condoleeza Rice, Dick Cheney and others--came together to make certain that the EV1 would never make it into the mainstream public.

Before the car could even be marketed, General Motors suddenly and inexplicably recalled them, claiming they had no demand. Some of those leasing the cars offered to pay for them, but GM was adamant--demanding the return of their vehicles. Protests erupted with little media coverage, as some attempted to hold onto their EV1s. But eventually GM was successful. And the literally "confiscated" electric cars were not only retrieved but eventually crushed and destroyed. In a final insult, Exxon Mobil was allowed to buy the patent for the battery technology--assuring this threat would be nullified for the near future. The electric car disappeared from the roads of Southern California, and--until the 2006 documentary--remained unknown to most Americans.

Now here we are on the cusp of 2009. With a global recession, high gas prices, desperate automakers and a promise by a president-elect to move the US from oil dependency, the electric car seems as relevant as ever. One of the conditions of the recently proposed automaker bailout, should be that the Big 3 start looking to produce cars that are energy efficient, cheaper for buyers and less harmful to the environment. And someone in Congress should demand them--General Motors in particular--to come clean about who killed the electric car.

Link to film:

Who Killed the Electric Car?

Trailer for "Who Killed the Electric Car?"




Tom Hanks on David Letterman discussing the EV1.

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