The Detroit Free Press reports: MARK PHELAN: Electric car killer? Hey, we're pro environment, but we had an issue with this Who Killed The Electric Car movie. We don't believe that GM wanted the EV-1 (their electric dealie) to die off.
"The movie 'Who Killed the Electric Car?' was terribly one-sided," Ernest Bastien, Toyota Motor Sales vice president for vehicle operations, said intensely. "It was not balanced at all."That's pretty weak of the movie maker to do that. In fact, it underminds his whole position. We believe the electric car is coming back and that it will be here in under 10 years. And it will catch on.If it's not surprising enough to hear Toyota defending GM, try this on for size: The film's director pretty much agrees.
"We let Toyota off the hook for how they subverted the program" to sell electric cars because GM had a higher profile, director Chris Paine told me over the phone Sunday.
The automakers, of course, don't think they subverted anything.
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The movie also intentionally ignored Toyota's experience to make its case, Bastien said.
"We shared all our experience with the RAV4-EV," but the filmmakers intentionally omitted it, he said.
He said the movie's suggestion that GM "chose not to make money on a car people wanted to buy in California" is ridiculous.
"They spent a huge amount of money advertising that car in California," Bastien said. "People wouldn't buy them."
GM and Toyota both claim to have spent a lot of money on advertising campaigns for their respective electric vehicles. I'd like to believe them off the bat, but I cannot find evidence of any aired or published commercials for these electric vehicles. Without advertising, of course people won't buy the cars, because they don't know they exist. Could someone please point me in the direction of these advertisements, with evidence that they were aired or published, such as a magazine clipping (scanned of course) or something from a television station that verifies the airing of a commercial, a taped segment perhaps? I don't recall ever seeing any on any major stations.
Posted by: Crys | Tuesday, February 27, 2007 at 12:35 PM
I tried for months to test drive an electric car. Both the EV1 and the Honda box that was showed in the movie. I live in Sacramento, CA. This should be easy. I was never able to jive my schedule with their specialists. Not that I didn't try. I visited and left my name and number at the Saturn dealership several times, and they never returned my call. It was not for lack of cars, as I saw as many as 8 cars on the Saturn lot on Fulton Ave.
I FINALLY got to drive a Rav4 EV last year through a connection at SMUD. The real range I got in the Rav4 was close to 60 miles. The speed governor kicked in at about 75 miles an hour. The action of the electric motor was noticably (but not rediculously) choppy when creeping at 1mph. Regenerative braking was weird and non-progressive. It was more natural to drive with regenerative braking switched off. The weight of the Rav combined with the super-low rolling resistance tires made for a meek performer. And to find a used one would cost over $20,000 in very good condition.
Still, NOBODY has given me a good reason for crushing over 100 EV1s that were in perfect running condition. It is an absolute waste. GM scuttled that ship and I feel Ford and Toyota would have, too if not for the bad press involved. What happened to EV1s going to museums and research centers? I'm not getting in to what GM should have done but didn't. I'm saying what GM DID do (crush the cars, Orwellian bleak looking commercials, refuse to let Customers buy the cars) should not have been done.
Posted by: Andymon | Friday, December 22, 2006 at 02:17 AM