Nothing more and nothing less.
Cadillac sold more '59 models than any other year.
Posted on 05/24/2006 12:29:25 AM PDT by BlueSky194
In 1996 a number of EV-1 electric cars began appearing on California's highways. The General Motors-produced vehicle was fast, ran quietly, produced no polluting exhaust and it ran without gasoline and then, suddenly, it was gone.
The documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car?, from producer Dean Devlin and filmmaker Chris Paine, chronicles the life and mysterious death of the groundbreaking vehicle, examining its cultural and economic ripple effects and how they reverberated through the halls of government and big business. Filmmakers make the case that the death of the EV-1 was, in fact, a murder. They claim to show that production of the revolutionary car was halted due to pressure from industries that would be harmed by the proliferation of electric car technology.
Who Killed the Electric Car?, a 2006 selection at the Tribeca and Sundance film festivals, interviews and investigates automakers, legislators, engineers, consumers and car enthusiasts from Los Angeles to Detroit, to work through motives and alibis, and to solve the complex mystery.
Who Killed the Electric Car?, from Sony Pictures Classics, opens in New York and L.A. on June 28 and will further expand this summer. It's been rated PG for "brief mild language."
I killed them...that's right I killed them all.
I'd sneak in at night and put Kool-Aid in all the little holes in the tops of those giant batteries. I was also the guy running around unplugging them from the little charging stations. I got tired of tripping over all the damned extension cords laying around.
L
I was an electrical engineering professor for 14 years. One of my former students worked on the EV-1. I got to drive it once. We couldn't go for a very long drive because it had already been driven that morning and needed to be recharged.
But some folks just need some whacked out conspiracy to give their lives meaning I guess.
L
According to my former student there were some real technical deficiencies that doomed them right from the beginning. It was all because the stupid California legislature mandated 10% of cars on the road had to be EVs without bothering to check whether they were even possible.
I have a picture of my Great uncle standing beside my Grandfather and his touring car taken in 1918. He had just driven it from Buffalo N.Y. to Hartford Ct. It was a steam powered Car, my father who rode in it told me the excelleration was tremendous and that it was quiet and comfortable. Makes me wonder why steam has not been used or developed further since that time. I never hear of anyone useing heat and water as an alternitive.
But that problem - expensive battery - has been solved in the Honda and Toyota, right? Right? Oh.
I will spend a lot to take good care of my 50+ mpg VW TDI DIESEL. Just turned 70K miles and did 49+ mpg @ 80 mph with a bicycle in the wind on our 3500 mile most recent trip.
How'd you get the wind to stay behind you all that way???
"Makes me wonder why steam has not been used or developed further since that time."
Steam boilers often explode when they get old. I shudder to think of car crashes involving steemers. And they are HEAVY--they have to be, to get enough compression to last a while. I think gas engines were supposed to be far more productive in the power-to-weight department, which made them far more popular.
That said, I saw Jay Leno driving one on some car show a few years back. It looked scary fast and was wicked quiet. The only drawback, he said, was you had to get it steamed up and when you parked it, you had to let the boiler blow off, which was pretty noisy and would probably nuke the average garage after a while.
You buy one first. 8)
..As long as you do not steal my idea of mounting a wind turbine on the car's roof. It turns an alternator, see?.
This charges the batteries as you drive, and when you plug it into the Grid when you get home, of course the electric meter spins backwards as you get a credit for the surplus.
As long as some morons are basing IPO's on electrolytic H2 on demand, I may as well get rich from Scientific Illiteracy, also.
Freepmail me for the INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME!!!
(Operators are standing by, not available in stores...but WAIT! There's MORE!! etc..etc..)
For gosh sakes, look at the hybrids! When I was younger, the concept required a frikking trailer full of batteries you had to haul behind the car, but when the tech level arrived that you could put it all in one sleek package, they are all over the place.
LOL!!!
I see the electric car was tested in California. I wonder if the filmakers tried one out in upstate New York, in the winter, with the heater running?
"Who Killed the Electric Car?"
The electric car - that's the answer. It burns too much fuel and takes too long to charge and the power plant that supplies its energy is forced by Ecologists and Liberals to use the dirtiest fuel available.
"I see the electric car was tested in California. I wonder if the filmakers tried one out in upstate New York, in the winter, with the heater running?"
Or in hot country with the A/C running?
Of course he didn't.... EVERYONE knows Al Gore invented the Electric Car, and, as such, is responsible for its demise.
There was a LOT of research/prototyping on "external combustion" (steam) cars during the first energy crunch back in the 1970's. The tech simply wasn't viable. You can find articles in the Popular Science of those years.
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