A great documentary film, "Who Killed the Electric Car?", is playing now in a very limited number of art theaters. Too bad since this film should be widely viewed. Anyone interested in the high price of gas, the environment and automotive technology should certainly see it. It "pairs well" (as Starbucks would say) with another current great documentary by Al Gore, "An Inconvenient Truth." These films both should be seen by every thinking, caring person.
The history of the electric car goes something like this. First a definition and a distinction. By electric car we mean a car powered solely by batteries whereas a hybrid is a car powered by gas and batteries. A plug-in hybrid is a car which can be plugged in to recharge the batteries whereas a normal hybrid's batteries only get charged in the process of driving.
The electric car has been around for over a hundred years. In 1859 Thomas Davenport invented the battery powered car. In 1890 Thomas Edison built a battery powered car using nickel-alkaline batteries. In 1903 one third of all cars produced were electric vehicles, one third were steam powered and one third were gas powered. In 1930 Krieger manufactured the first gas-electric hybrid. It was front wheel driven with power steering. A gasoline engine supplemented the battery pack. In the same year the successful introduction of Ford's internal combustion engine powered Model T virtually wiped out the electric car companies.
In 1990 the Los Angeles basin issued 41 stage 1 smog alerts. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) adopted a Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) mandate requiring car manufacturers selling vehicles in the state of California to have 2% of their market share in ZEVs by 1998, 5% by 2001 and 10% by 2003. In 1995 the American Automobile Manufacturing Association circulated a confidential proposal to launch a public relations "grassroots education campaign" to repeal the CARB ZEV program.
In 1996 in response to auto industry pressure, the CARB made the ZEV mandate more flexible. A "Memorandum of Agreement" between CARB and seven of the largest automobile manufacturers stated that the automakers would promote and market ZEVs in sufficient quantities to meet consumer demand. However, advertising expenditures for GM's EV-1 were minimal as the auto manufacturers did everything they could to discredit their own vehicles while advertising gas-powered cars to the hilt. 10% of all new cars and light duty trucks were still required to be ZEVs by 2003.
In 2000 GM's EV-1 was made available for lease at $400 to $500 a month. Meanwhille, GM purchased Hummer, a gas guzzler, showing where its priorities really were. In 2002 GM, ChryslerDaimler and seven San Joaquin Valley dealerships sued CARB over the ZEV mandate. The US Department of Justice in the Bush Administration filed a "friend of the court" brief supporting GM's and Daimler's suit arguing that the ZEV mandate was an attempt to regulate fuel economy standards something only the Federal Government could do. Alan C Lloyd, chairman of CARB, was named Chairman of the California Fuel Cell Partnership, a group devoted to promoting fuel cell technology, a competitor to electric car technology which was being promoted by the auto industry. Accordingly, Lloyd and CARB lost interest in electric cars. President Bush in his 2003 State of the Union address called for research in hydrogen fuel cells. The only problem was that hydrogen fuel cell technology was at least 15 years away. EV technology was already proven and in production. At best fuel cell technology would require a large expenditure in infrastructure in terms of filling stations whereas electric cars could be simply plugged in at home at night.
In 2003 Toyota announced that it would stop production on its electric vehicle, the RAV4 EV, citing poor sales. The Toyota was the only EV that could be purchased (for $42,000) in addition to being leased. The CARB under Alan Lloyd further modified the ZEV mandate to only require auto makers to roll out a mix of gas-electric hybrids, fuel cell and partially zero emission vehicles by 2008. This effectively killed the ZEV mandate. Subsequent to the CARB's revisions, GM announced that it would not renew leases on the EV-1 and would recall all of them dispatching tow trucks to haul them away from customers reluctant to relinquish them. Ford, Honda and Toyota also pulled their fleets of EVs off the roads.
In 2004 EV-1's are discovered and filmed at GM's Arizona proving grounds having been crushed. Documentary maker Huell Howser elicits the admission that not only are the practically new EV-1s being crushed but that they are scheduled to be shredded so that no earthly trace of them will remain. In 2005 EV-1 activists launch a 24 hour vigil at a GM lot in Burbank where a number of EV-1s have been impounded. When enclosed vans showed up to haul them away, the activists blocked the exit and were handcuffed and arrested by local cops.
In 2006 GM and Toyota ended research on hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles. It seems that they were merely a stalking horse to put out there to attract attention away from and to finally kill EVs. Why you may ask would auto manufacturers want to get rid of the EV? Here are some reasons. A large percentage of auto dealer profits come from maintenance and the EV, in contrast to the gas engine, is virtually maintenance free. Also oil companies would go out of business, and there are still a trillion barrels of oil in the ground and $100 trillion in profits yet to be gained by oil companies. So they don't want oil free transportation to become a reality just yet.
Regardless of the machinations of the oil companies and the auto manufacturers who are more interested in their own profits than in a technology which will protect the environment, reduce greenhouse gasses and reduce costs to consumers (hence less profits), there is an independent company, Tesla Motors, which as of 2006 is manufacturing all electric cars which use Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries developed by Stanford Ovshinsky, have a range of 300 miles, can go 0 to 60 in 4 seconds and cost less than a penny a mile to operate. It will be interesting to see how the auto manufacturers and oil companies will respond to this challenge. Will they try to buy them out and kill the electric car again? Will they try to get legislation passed by the oil friendly (Bush, Cheney and Condoleeza Rice are former oil company executives) Federal Government? Will they try to propagandize consumers away from the all electric vehicle. In the near future, however, only rich people will be able to afford a Tesla, the first car named after an electrical engineer, which started production with a sports model. Down the road, if EVs become more affordable, the average person may be able to own one. Don't expect any help from the Bush Administration though in jump starting the switch to EVs. Their interests are tied in with the status quo.
Finally, Ovshinsky and his company Ovonics have developed thin film solar panels which can be used in lieu of shingles as roofing materials. Every new and re-roofed home can have a built-in solar panel covering the whole roof! It is with sadness that we note the recent passage (August 16, 2006) of Stan Ovshinsky's wife, Iris, who was an equal partner in his business developments.
Speaking for the family, Dr. Ovshinsky’s daughter, Dr. Robin Dibner, said, “Iris fought for peace, equality and justice with empathy for everyone. She found great happiness in creating new industries that resulted in high-value jobs. She was full of life and sparkle, bringing joy to all who met her.”
