it may not be the most original take on the question of why we don't have a robust EV infrastructure in America today, but Michael Kanellos's post over on CNET on just who killed the electric car is nonetheless a very good read.

Take this line as an example: "This is General Motors and Ford Motor we're talking about. U.S. automakers are the last bastion of industrial feudalism on the planet. The most innovative things they've come up with in three decades are the cupholder and the Lee Iacocca goggle glasses. (It was a huge fashion statement back in the '70s, kids.) These people are going to engineer a global conspiracy that eludes regulators around the world, financiers and competitors? GM execs are more concerned about who gets named to the Rolling Hills Country Club membership committee."

You like? There more where that came from, but if you're pressed for time the takeaway point is that making a "real" EV for the masses is no easy task, and the difficulty means there are a lot of reasons why no automaker has tried since the EV1 and RAV4 EV and Ranger EV went away. The success of hybrids, trouble with building a better battery, the inherent difficulty in making and selling cars and - very importantly - cheap customers are all to blame.

I heartily disagree with Kanello, though, when he says that understanding something by "follow(ing) the money", is something only crazy people do. There's a lot that gets revealed when we look at financial motives.

[Source: CNET]

Don't know how long it'll be until this video is snagged and sent off to Guantanamo, but at least right now you can watch the full-length movie "Who Killed The Electric Car?" through Google video (by clicking the play button above). It's easy to assume that most of the AutoblogGreen readership has seen this movie, but I'm curious to see if I'm right. So, would you mind taking the poll here?

Have you seen "Who Killed the Electric Car?"
	Yes
	No
	No (but I'm going to watch it now)
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Thanks.

[Source: Google Video, h/t to Linton]

Chris Paine, writer and director of "Who Killed the Electric Car," is a finalist for a Writer's Guild of America award. He was nominated in the documentary category and joins four other finalists. A total of 35 writers were under consideration. The winner will be announced February 11 at the WGA Awards ceremony. The nominating committee for the Academy Awards passed on Paine's documentary late last year.

[Source: Dave McNary / Variety]

Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" advanced to the next round of Oscar consideration, but "Who Killed the Electric Car?" was left at the charging station. Just over 80 movies qualified for the Documentary Feature category and 15 moved on to the next round. Members of the Documentary Branch will select five nominees from the shortlist, and one will eventually win the Academy Award. The Iraq war apparently touched a nerve with the judges as other well-reviewed documentaries such as "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" and "Sketches of Frank Gehry" failed to make the cut.

[Source: Mark Olsen, LA Times]

Will historians mark post-Katrina and the resulting high gas prices the return of the electric car? That may be what EV supporters are hoping. As gas prices continue to remain high and "Who Killed the Electric Car?" still on many people's 'Must See' list, supporters are parking their EVs in front or near theaters to answer questions and pass out flyers to continue sparks of interest from the public.

They continue to have a tough sell, though. Many consumers want the ability to drive 300 miles even if they don't normally make such distances. EV supporters are placing their hopes on plug-in hybrids as a stop-gap measure to satisfy such criticism. Regardless, activists insist that the electric vehicle is here to stay and ready for the mainstream.

[Source: Contra Costa Times]

You don't have to spend much time talking with Chelsea Sexton to realize she is passionate about electric vehicles. Sexton has been part of the EV debate that started in the 1990s with the debut of General Motor's first mass-production all-electric vehicle, the EV1. Sexton worked for GM, leasing the EV1 to customers and working on marketing strategies, until late 2001, when she was laid off and GM stopped the EV1 program. The EV1's story is told in the new film "Who Killed The Electric Car?", which features Sexton and others talking about the strange fate of the cars that were once hyped by Hollywood stars, then found a fanatic consumer base, and are now out rusting in the desert. Sexton found time for an exclusive Q&A with AutoblogGreen.

ABG: Do you think "Who Killed The Electric Car?" accurately portrays the EV1 story?
Sexton: I do, actually. I've been really proud of Chris [Paine, director] and Dean [Devlin, executive producer]. That is part of what has enabled all of us to have a good level of trust going into it because it is their story, too. The director and the executive producer were both drivers of these cars [EV1s]. We knew they'd do right by the story. I've been really impressed with how well Chris told that complex story in a precise and compelling way.

ABG: How did you get involved in the film?
Sexton: (laughs) I leased them their cars. I've known Chris for about nine years and I actually leased Dean his car but also his father Don Devlin was one of my very first drivers, the guy to whom the film is dedicated. In some ways, Don is responsible for our ability to tell the story with such accuracy because he was, from the very beginning, saying the auto companies do not want to do this and he made us pay attention all along. It was very rewarding to get to tell the story for Don in the end.

ABG: There is a scene in the film where you go see an EV1 in an underground parking garage, I think in a car museum. Is this the last EV1 in existence?
Sexton: No. There are about 40 that GM gutted and donated to museums and universities, basically in an effort to get some brownie points in the end, I guess. The Peterson [Automotive Museum] got one of them. Another one that is kind of making a lot of waves right now is the one in the Smithsonian because they got the only intact car, but they just removed it from display. The Washington Post wrote a big article on it a few days ago. The other interesting component is the wing that the EV1 sits in was paid for by General Motors. GM donated $10 million to the museum and now, on the eve of the film coming out, they remove the car. There's no conspiracy theory involved, but it certainly is a big coincidence.

Getting ready for the new documentary "Who Killed The Electric Car?" that is coming to theatres this summer, the PBS program NOW dedicates its show this week to discussing the film and electric cars in general. This page gives a brief description of the show itself and here's a good timeline on the history of electric cars (going back to 1832!). Also, actress Alexandra Paul talks about leasing the first EV1 (GM's electric vehicle that is the main topic of the film) that was made available to the public here. Lastly, here's a Q&A with Daniel Sperling, who teaches at UC Davis and is director of the Institute of Transportation Studies. Sperling says he believes "we will see many of our vehicles running solely on electricity in the not-so-far-off future."

[Source: PBS]

I finally got around to checking out the trailer for the new documentary "Who Killed The Electric Car?" on the Sony Classics website. I'm a big fan of documentary films because they can convey a lot of information easily and in such a way that people are willing to receive it, even pay for it. Of course, the medium is easily abused and discounted, so it's kind of a treacherous field to play in. Still, the trailer makes this film look incredibly scathing and the topic – car companies introducing and then destroying hundreds of electric vehicles in the late 1990s – certainly deserves more attention. I'm looking forward to when this film comes out and am curious how it'll be treated in the press and by viewers.

In a little while we'll have a post up that compares this film to an earlier, similar film. Based on what I've seen so far, the evidence from these two documentaries points to a long struggle ahead for anyone trying to get America to travel smarter.

[Source: Sony Classics via Jalopnik]