Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006)
Electric Entertainment

Description

In 1996, electric cars began to appear on roads all over California. They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust and ran without gasoline. Ten years later, these futuristic cars were almost entirely gone. What happened? Why should we be haunted by the ghost of the electric car?

Tags

Cars, California, Electric cars, Environment

Collected reviews and ratings

8.0 New York Times | Manohla Dargis

A murder mystery, a call to arms and an effective inducement to rage, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" is the latest and one of the more successful additions to the growing ranks of issue-oriented documentaries.
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8.0 Time | Richard Corliss

Chris Paine's documentary makes an unapologetic case for the car and an unofficial indictment of the forces allied against it: the auto and gasoline industries, an Administration stocked with former executives of oil companies and, not least, the American consumer
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7.0 Variety | Robert Koehler

Oil companies aren't the only ones profiting from a spike in prices at the gas pump. It's likely also to boost the prospects of "Who Killed the Electric Car?" a likable if partisan post-mortem on the now-defunct auto.
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7.0 Salon.com

Chris Paine's film "Who Killed the Electric Car?" is a straightforward work of advocacy that wouldn't pass muster as journalism. But so what? Paine never tries to hide his point of view, and while you're free to disagree with his analysis (and many will), his film marks the first serious attempt to come to grips with the brief and extraordinary history of California's electric-car initiative.
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6.0 Empire | Sam Toy

Even in the narration of Martin ‘wish-he-really-was-President’ Sheen, there’s a curious absence of passion. Factually, though, it’s impressive, lining up a wealth of material from insiders and celebrity supporters of the cars.
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5.8 Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

Who Killed the Electric Car? makes you angry, and also sad, to live in a country where innovation could be contrived into an enemy.
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5.0 Washington Post | Stephen Hunter

Who killed the electric car, asks "Who Killed the Electric Car?," and then answers: the usual suspects. Oh, you know. Any entity with the modifier "big" in front of its name: Big Oil, Big Auto, Big Government, Big Power.
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