Who Killed the Electric Car?

[Kartikeya-OD]

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/whokilledtheelectriccar/trailer/

Discuss. (veek style!)


No really why have I never heard of these EV cars before?

[Sinmanc]

They barelly marketed it and the only state were it was available was California.
Heres a link to a gm blog: http://www.gm.com/company/onlygm/fastlane_Blog_2.html#EV1 stating why it failed.

Having lived in California for a short time in the mid - late 90's i never once saw an add for the vehicle. If the only advertising they could have done was had a GM rep / actor appear on some talk show and talk about it the car would in all probability have been completelly sold out and much support for it would have come.

[|RES|arod]

That article didn't really explain anything other than give weak excuses as to why they discontinued the electric car. In essence, all he said was that the car became unsafe because GM refused to create and supply more parts for it. I really believe that most companies have developed a timeline for how much longer we can depend on gasoline as a fuel source. These oil companies plan to drain our supply as long as possible while giving car manufacturers money under the table. If there was a completely electric car in 1996, then how in the hell do we not have a single electric car now? This technology is more than 10 years old!

[MightyCawdoR]

In 1899 and 1900, electrics outsold all other type of cars and the most popular electric was the Columbia built by Colonel Albert Augustus Pope, owner of American Bicycle Company.

Electric cars have been around a whole llot longer than 10 years. So called first production electric car. (http://www.hightechscience.org/electric_car.htm)

[|RES|arod]

Maybe I should have said consumer electric car to be more clear. No one is going to drive that thing on the interstate unless they want a deathwish.

[ob]

i have seen quite a few electric car aswell as the charging stations, but then again, i live in the san francisco bay area..

[MightyCawdoR]

Maybe I should have said consumer electric car to be more clear. No one is going to drive that thing on the interstate unless they want a deathwish.

True but I was posting more towards your comment about the technology. The technology has been there from the start of people building cars. :)

[Zogo]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_petroleum_companies

[leg]

http://www.teslamotors.com/index.php?js_enabled=1

equivalent to 1 cent per gallon
equivalent to 135 mpg
250 miles per charge
0-60 in 4 seconds

Really if you think about the birth of technologies in the past, many have had down cycles before they explode expodentially. Ofcoure some do continue to go down and never come back up.

[matt-]

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I just watched this movie and it made me angrier than any other movie I've seen before.

A must see, for sure.

[Moniker]

If they make a cheap electric motorcycle, I would buy one, but that will never happen, so fuck electric vehicles :mad:

[VeeKaChu]

I'm pretty sure it was the same guys that killed my father.

But seriously, there have been stories for decades about the automakers and big oil buying up and supressing any new non-pretoleum-based energy sources to power automobiles.

About a month ago I was talking with a trader in WV who said he had a Masters in nuclear physics. It was a slow night, and we ended up yapping for about an hous and a half. He told methat he met an inventor in Oregon that showed his plans for an engine that ran on water (hydrogen-based, obviously) and a working prototype. He'd developed it over ten years ago, supposedly, and then sold it- and all the rights to it- for a ginormous amount of money, to an oil company.

It's a second hand story, and I make no claims as to its veracity whatsoever, but the point is there've been similar stories since forever. Once the worlds supplies of fossil fuels dwindle below sustainability (my dad said 2020 at the latest, that was in the 70's) , they'll begin to break these technologies out and continue their dominance over the 'car culture'.

[MV8]

That article didn't really explain anything other than give weak excuses as to why they discontinued the electric car. In essence, all he said was that the car became unsafe because GM refused to create and supply more parts for it. I really believe that most companies have developed a timeline for how much longer we can depend on gasoline as a fuel source. These oil companies plan to drain our supply as long as possible while giving car manufacturers money under the table. If there was a completely electric car in 1996, then how in the hell do we not have a single electric car now? This technology is more than 10 years old!

It was not just GM that killed their electric cars:

http://www.monitor.net/monitor/0002a/hondaev.html

[dylan]

just drive a hulking SUV that gets 10 miles per gallon, like I do!

<3 my tahoe

[Tone-Loc]

I forgot about this thread... I am glad it was bumped. It is due for DVD release on 11/14... I will be picking this up and giving it a looksee for sure.

[Kartikeya-OD]

I'm glad to see this tread bumped as well. I have be interested in this issue since I first found out about it. Hence why I posted about it originally. I'm glad it's coming out on DVD soon, to bad my money is going for a Wii.

[rabidkevin]

I'm pretty sure it was the same guys that killed my father.

But seriously, there have been stories for decades about the automakers and big oil buying up and supressing any new non-pretoleum-based energy sources to power automobiles.

About a month ago I was talking with a trader in WV who said he had a Masters in nuclear physics. It was a slow night, and we ended up yapping for about an hous and a half. He told methat he met an inventor in Oregon that showed his plans for an engine that ran on water (hydrogen-based, obviously) and a working prototype. He'd developed it over ten years ago, supposedly, and then sold it- and all the rights to it- for a ginormous amount of money, to an oil company.

It's a second hand story, and I make no claims as to its veracity whatsoever, but the point is there've been similar stories since forever. Once the worlds supplies of fossil fuels dwindle below sustainability (my dad said 2020 at the latest, that was in the 70's) , they'll begin to break these technologies out and continue their dominance over the 'car culture'.

be amazed: http://youtube.com/watch?v=J9iWaCMbw60