“Revenge Of The Electric Car” To Hit Theaters In 2009

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by Michael dEstries July 9, 2008
Categories: Film/TV, Transport
Tags: .

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Chris Paine, director of the popular doc Who Killed The Electric Car, is currently working on the sequel titled Revenge of the Electric Car. Set to hit theaters in 2009, Paine won’t reveal much more other than “the movie will chronicle the work major automakers are doing to get a second generation of electric cars on the road.”

Hey, we’re just thrilled there’s an upbeat potential happy ending to this whole tale. The previous movie, which dealt with the demise of General Motor’s much-loved EV1, left you rather befuddled over how such a promising technology could be scrapped. Several years later, there’s been a massive turnaround that’s occurred much faster than most anticipated. As Autobloggreen details,

“We’re not at all certain what the movie will focus on, but it is definitely true that electric cars are seeing a reincarnation of sorts. Tesla Motors, Fisker Automotive and General Motors all have plans to create new electric or hybrid vehicles in the coming years, along with many other major automakers. Even if it isn’t the beloved little coupe, we join Mr. Paine and the throngs of ex-EV1 drivers in welcoming the electric car’s return.”

Well said — and we look forward to welcoming electric cars back onto the roads. Let’s hope there’s no reason to make this series a trilogy.

via autobloggreen

About Michael dEstries

Michael has been blogging since 2005 on issues such as sustainability, renewable energy, philanthropy, and healthy living. He regularly contributes to a slew of publications, as well as consulting with companies looking to make an impact using the web and social media. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his family on an apple farm.

View all posts by Michael dEstries →
  • Tom C Gray

    Chris Paine might actually refrain from his bad habit of rewriting and manufacturing history this time around. And where were those “throngs” of EV-1 lovers back in 2002 when GM couldn’t find more than 800 morons willing to lease their crappy EV-1s, when they had 1100 plus available?
    Were they the ones who offered that “enormous bid of over a million dollars for the cars? That bid works out to less than $13,000 per car, or less than half the price of the EV-1′s battery pack, which cost a cool $26,000.
    That pack lasted about 5 years as I recall, making the “cheap to drive” EV-1 actually the most expensive car on the planet. Just another Chris Paine lie.
    Note that not one single electric car being developed resembles the EV-1 in any way, shape,or form. Sounds like the EV-1 is not getting any of Paine’s claimed “revenge” after all. THe EV-1 technology remains as dead as a doorknell. Don’t exect the unreliable Paine to admot this. But, then again, what has he ever said that could be characterized as truthful?

  • http://www.pluginamerica.org Paul Scott

    Tom Gray needs to take a chill pill.

    First of all, there isn’t a single aspect of Paine’s film that is inaccurate. If Mr. Gray can point to one, and document in what way it isn’t true, I ask that he do so. From what he’s written, it’s clear Mr. Gray is the one trying to re-write history.

    Let’s take his comments one at a time:

    “And where were those “throngs” of EV-1 lovers back in 2002 when GM couldn’t find more than 800 morons willing to lease their crappy EV-1s, when they had 1100 plus available?”

    Answer: GM leased 100% of the EV1s they made available for lease. Yes, they made about 1100 of the cars, but only made 800 available for lease. The rest were kept as internal test vehicles and not made available to lease. As GM admitted, there were thousands of folks on a waiting list that never got a chance to lease the car.

    “Were they the ones who offered that “enormous bid of over a million dollars for the cars? That bid works out to less than $13,000 per car…”

    Answer: We offered approximately $1.9 million cash for the 78 EV1s stored at the Burbank facility. This equated to the stipulated value of the EV1 at the end of the lease times 78 vehicles.

    “That pack lasted about 5 years as I recall, making the “cheap to drive” EV-1 actually the most expensive car on the planet.”

    Answer: How do you know how long the pack lasted since, to my knowledge, none of the NiMH packs failed before GM took the cars back and crushed them? As a matter of fact, many of those packs are still running today in EVs that were lucky enough to acquire salvaged packs from the GM crushing program. GM was smart enough to remove the packs before crushing the rest of the car.

    Hundreds of Toyota RAV4 EVs, including mine, are still running 5-10 years after the vehicles were made. Many are over 100,000 miles with the leader over 150,000 miles and still going strong on the original NiMH battery pack.

    “THe EV-1 technology remains as dead as a doorknell.”

    Answer: I think you mean “doorknob”. Regardless, you’re still very, very wrong. Over 20 car companies are in development on EVs and Plug-In Hybrids including GM, Toyota, Mercedes, Subaru, Mitsubishi and many more.

    Mr. Gray, you clearly have issues regarding this technology, but you don’t provide specifics as to why. If you’ll do a bit of research, I think you’ll find that this technology is not only good for our country, but it’s good for you as an individual, too.

  • CDC

    Tom, you need to stop breathing the fumes out of your Hummer tail pipe and breath a little oxygen.

    Sounds like you use to work for GMs PR Department from the ranting?

    Anyway, watch the movie and get the facts. Sounds like you have not seen it yet?

    Here is part 1 of 11 parts -
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vD33UMAtBY

  • http://www.lumag.com Remy Chevalier

    I was introduced to the EV-1 at the 1997 EVS14 in Orlando, same time as the Hybrid Hummmer, and the Luciole, which some say inspired the Tango design.

    The first thing I asked the GM guys was if there was going to be a convertible model for the sunny skies of Southern California, and the streets of Beverly Hills, so you could schmooze all the green girls!

    These geniuses told me, straight face, that their team had not even thought about it, leaving the door wide open for the Tesla, a commercialization of the ACPropulsion tZero prototype.

    Then I sat in the EV-1, realized I couldn’t stick my elbow out the window. The kiss of death for any sports car.

    The EV-1 was designed flawed through and through… the plastic cheap. But EV fans loved it, and had GM not crushed them, they’d still be riding the streets, maintained and cared for.

    GM is a criminal organization, that’s why they are hurting so bad today… they didn’t care about the planet, they only cared about being in bed with ExxonMobil!

    The saddest part, is that once GM took a ride in the Hybrid Hummer in 1997, they promptly bought the company so Arnold would never get his hand on it, and neither did the Pentagon… it took years for the military to finally gear up the program so our boys could have extended range, silent mode and no heat signature.

    GM deserves to disband, allowing its divisions to regain their independence… Give dignity back to Chevrolet, Cadillac, Pontiac, etc… go their separate ways, build great cars again, in the spirit of Route 66, and great cars, in the 21st Century, means great electric cars.

  • Tom Lee

    Mr. Chevalier starts to make a coherent argument and then blows his credibility with a phrase like ‘they only cared about being in bed with ExxonMobil’. As much as I may not agree with the EV policies of GM, I really doubt whether their major decisions were based on wanting to be in bed with Exxon or Mobile. They don’t sell too many cars to Exxon. They sell cars that consumers want. If consumers weren’t willing to spend enormous amounts of money on gas guzzling SUVs GM would not have been building them. I guess you can believe that it’s all the fault of oil companies for producing such cheap fuel. And now that the environmentalists are getting their way (it was their stated goal ten years ago to get the price of gas up to $6 a gallon) you’ll see GM changing their product line even at the risk of getting kicked out of bed.

  • http://www.kontaktmag.com Don Crossland

    While there is no doubt that GM is in cahoots with the oil companies, Tom Lee is right. Ultimately, we have no one to blame but ourselves. The EV-1 story is a perfect example of how we can no longer count on government to look after our best interests. The law that started the EV program was removed as quickly as it was put in place leaving GM free to kill their EV program and build Hummers. They made a ton of money because people were more than happy to buy them. Meanwhile, on the heels of environmental awareness, the Prius was enjoying increasing sales. As gas prices started to climb, so did Prius sales and interest from other auto makers increased as they saw the dollar signs. Now, for the first time since the 30s, GM is not the top auto maker in the US. Toyota has that honor now. The consumer has spoken. If we, as consumers, put our money where our values are, the market will respond. That is where our ultimate power lies.

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