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Poster for Who Killed the Electric Car?

Who Killed the Electric Car?

A lack of consumer confidence... or conspiracy?

2006 · 1h 32m · PG Documentary
Directed by Chris Paine

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Overview

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 cars were destroyed.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
89%
Tomatometer
Rotten

Another few of these squandered opportunities for art-house muckraking and we'll need someone to ask who killed the left-wing documentary.

Rob Nelson, Village Voice
Fresh

Chris Paine's documentary about General Motors' development and withdrawal of the innovative, environment-friendly EV1 automobile is bound to reverberate with anyone who's fallen in love with a product only to see it irrevocably yanked from the market.

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Fresh

Filmmaker Chris Paine's postmortem on the EV1s doesn't answer all our questions, but it is reasonably evenhanded and quite entertaining.

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Fresh

It's liable to get people hopping mad, whether or not they buy Paine's overarching conspiracy theory.

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com
Fresh

... an entertaining but sometimes disingenuous documentary ...

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

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