A great documentary that, shockingly, doesn't lay ALL the blame on the big auto makers. Yes, some of it falls our our shoulders, the consumers, too.

I mostly still blame the auto makers, though...

The shadows remind me of the "nuclear shadows" left on buildings in Hiroshima.

The voice in the commercial sounds a bit too much like Zelda Rubinstein from the Poltergeist movies.

"This car is clean."

Of course the last line of the commercial is "It's here..."

hmmm...

The creepy voice and music already turned me off...
I understand that ad styles may have changed since 1996, but who cares so much about the "how does this work" rather than the "how can it help me/save me money"?

I really wonder how after such a huge spike in gas prices, none of the states have come up with a similar requirement. I had read some folks converted their cars to electric ones and I though more people will follow it and somehow auto companies will be forced to make electric cars. Now that gas prices are low nobody is talking about gas prices. Are we really this short sighted?

I kind of liked it.

Then again, I also enjoyed Koyaanisqatsi. YMM(will?)V.

Carol Channing did sound a little creepy in that commercial.

@Yoko Broke Up The Beatles: Why? If there isn't a demand for that car, why should the companies be FORCED to produce it? Granted, this advertisement was a rather underhanded way to enhance the lack of demand, but there just wasn't that much demand for the car to begin with.

@cpt.snerd:

Who cares more about how does it work than how can it help me/save me money? Umm, the kind of people who would lease the first electric car?

The EV1 was only available by lease, was super-expensive, and had something like a 50 mile range. The only people who would be interested and could afford it are are early adopters and very serious environmentalists. It wouldn't save them money or make their lives easier, so it had to appeal on technology and novelty.

I am guessing they meant "sparks and explosions" in the descriptive way of a 4 cycle engine versus dangerous sparking and exploding but based on the above descriptons they slanted it to the danger idea.

Of course auto advertisers never have been entirely able or clued in. I remember the aborted (and less than 2000 sold nation-wide) Lincoln Blackwood -a rich, old-foagie, horsey-set, golf playing man's truck if there ever was one- being advertised in a commercial with a night club dj spinning records on its tailgate outside of a hiphop alternative night club. Epic fail = <2000 sold and cancelation of the model.

It made me either want to buy one right away or drink a whole bottle of drain cleaner. I can't decide which to do first.

I looked at the other three commercials as well, the second and third one looked like fun. However, the fourth commercial was almost as creepy as the first one since they used the whole possessed appliances angle.

@undefined: That is the most intentionally self-destructive commercial I've ever seen. Actually, I guess it's the *only* self-destructive commercial I've seen. Amazing.

@dragonprism: Except that when you watch this movie, it becomes very clear that GM was doing everything it could to reduce demand (scary commercials, limited geographic availability, limited production, etc.). Even so, customers wanted it. There was a crazy long waiting list for the EV1. You couldn't buy one, only lease it, and when the leases expired, GM took them all back, despite the best efforts of the owners to keep them. Some owners were offering crazy-high ridiculous sums of money to be allowed to keep them, and GM repo'd anyway, while crying about "lack of demand".

I do love GM, they've made every car I've ever owned, but this movie definitely made me love them less.

Did you notice that the Shadow that it by itself, away from the family, looks like the Devil? Kinda creepy if you ask me.

@BfloAnonChick: I don't think GM would have to do anything to reduce demand. No one wants them. They're piddling little cars with very little power. They may be popular with the 'green' crowd but no sane person would actively look for one.

I've ridden in a Prius before and I haven't been that uncomfortable in a car since a buddy bought a Ford Festiva back in college years ago. Both of them may be good for a go-cart but not something I would take on the road

@madanthony: If you're accurate that's actually a longer range than the Volt, believe it or not. They finally came out with a more affordable electric car, and it's basically complete nonsense.

@BfloAnonChick: The EV1 was popular as a green toy for celebrities and other people who wanted to project a green image, but it wasn't really a practical vehicle for most people. Electric cars just don't have the range to be useful to most people, especially if they don't live in sunny California where temperatures are mild.

I remember, when the EV1 was around, a reporter asked one of GM's engineers what the range would be like on a winter day in Michigan, with the heater running. He shrugged and said, "Maybe 15 miles."

Let's also not forget that at least a third of Americans don't own their own homes, and so lack a garage to charge the thing in at night.

@Shadowman615: The difference is the Volt has an engine, so when you exceed the battery range you can keep going. With the EV1 you'd have to have it towed home.

Nothing like having shadows of incinerated people from a nuclear explosion to say buy this car.

Did anyone kind of feel like that commercial could have easily been a commercial for sort of cancerous 'silent killer' or not wearing seatbelts or such? Just lay down a different voiceover a voila'.

LOL I think I need to take a bath now; that commercial contaminated my soul.

@nighttrain2007: No one wants them because the automakers have the US population convinced bigger is better because its cheaper for them to produce trucks that dont fall under emissions and milage mandates.

And if your uncomfortable in a PRIUS, you have some issues. That isnt even a small car. Its actually kinda big compared to what people drive in Europe and Japan.

Is that Tangina???

@nighttrain2007:

Actually, the EV1 produced as much torque, if not more, than the average gas powered car of similar size.

"The EV1 could accelerate from 0-60 mph (0-100 km/h) in the eight-second range and from 0-50 mph (0-80 km/h) in 6.3 seconds."

[en.wikipedia.org]

Having been in a Prius myself, it is a much nicer car in every way than the Corolla I drive to work every day. It drove extremely well and there was no reason I'd be worried. I wouldn't buy one, myself, since the Corolla has similar gas mileage and is cheaper due to the fact the Prius is a hybrid, so you're carrying two cars in one. But that's just economics. If you had money to spare, it's a lovely car.

Back to the EV1, it also had some other features which would make it popular. For example, aluminum frame means no rust (who cares in Cali, but up north the salt on the roads eats cars alive), ABS (at the time this was not standard), self-sealing tires, and was extremely quiet due to being properly aerodynamically designed.

The 160 mile range and standard 120 volt outlet charger meant the car could handle commutes as long as 1.5 hours. With Li-Ion technology, I bet the car would have a 400 - 500 mile range, no sweat. With that range, you could even use it for a cross country trip, assuming you actually stop at a motel to sleep at and remember to plug the car in overnight.

I'm not an environmentalist by any means, but the EV1 was an incredible vehicle and if not offering it (or an alternative to it) is what causes GM to go bust, then THANK GOD, the invisible hand is actually working.

I assume this is addressed in the movie, but why would the automakers want to kill the car? If they were the ones producing it, wouldn't they only stand to gain from its increased popularity? Why shoot themselves in the foot even if it was only a niche market?

@shepd: Some quibbles:

Aluminum actually will corrode pretty readily when exposed to salt. This is why they don't use salt on airport runways. When I lived in Michigan the aluminum rear bumper on my Volvo 240 crystallized at the mounting points, fractured, and fell off.

From what I hear the 160 mile range of the EV1 was rather exaggerated -- it assumed absolutely ideal conditions. Also, I don't know what hotels you stay at, but I've never been to one that had outlets in the parking lot...

I dont have sound at work so I wasn't actually sure what the hell they were selling.

You should be able to tell from a good commercial, with no sound, what is being sold....

@shepd: Oh boy I hope the ads for the Volt use the music from Koyaanisqatsi! Koyaaaaaanisqatsiiii

I thought the Stonecutters killed the electric car! (and made Steve Guttenberg a star!)

@HFC:

Isn't the voice that small lady from She Devil?

I blame 'video'...killing the 'radio star' didn't satisfy his taste for murder, and I fear Teri Garr may be next!

Anyone who's played the God of War video games will recognize the voice as Linda Hunt, who won an Oscar in the mid 80's for playing a man (and not in a "Boys Don't Cry" way).

He is a man of honor. He is a man of action. He is a man of duty...
Here comes, Dr. Tran

This is the cheapest commercial ever made. Seriously, I bet they just sent out a couple of interns and got the receptionist to do the voice work over the stock photos and mini-model of the car. I doubt they even tried to make this commercial scary - because I doubt they even tried at all. Lame.

And they didn't sell oodles of electric cars from that ad? Shocking. People should have wanted to buy them just to see what they looked like, since they only showed a tiny bit of the car. It would be like a mystery present....you wouldn't know exactly what you were going to get until you went to buy one.

Was that Linda Hunt?

Batteries, batteries, batteries. The original all electric cars had batteries that ran down the center of the vehicle (for weight distribution). Given a daily commute that would cycle these batteries, they were estimated to have a life of at most 3 years. In the mean time they would have same problem as modern batteries have. Today you might get 150 miles, but in 6 months you get 120, and then in 1 year you're only getting 80.

How much does it cost to replace the bank of batteries? I recall an estimate of 3000.

Hybrids are a better choice today. When the battery technology catches up, THEN electric cars may work for the masses. Ultra-capacitors look pretty promising.

Looks like the agency that did the second Mr. Plow commercial did this one as well.

I was waiting for the:

"Obsession, by Calvin Klein".

Whoever killed the electric car is only guilty of a mercy killing.

@FuryOfFirestorm: No, they just held it back. Unsighted cave fish, though? All us.

@dancing_bear: I got the same goosebumps feeling from this commercial as I did from whenever I had to change plans in Denver's International Airport.

Gross, GM.

And there was a guy who was trying to sell an EV owners manual on ebay for like $80,000 or something.

@ThaneQue: If you'd watched the documentary, you would note that batteries were one of the things they investigated.

And a new type of battery, which could run for much longer and was much lighter, albeit a little more expensive, was developed...and bought up. Never to be heard from again.

I'm not into conspiracies, but there was a lot more going on than "lack of demand."

@squidbrain: These cars could have started the process of weening Americans off their gas/oil addiction. With it's death was the death of decades of progress in alternate fuel research and development.

So maybe the car was small and ugly, slow and expensive, but think where we COULD HAVE BEEN when you fill up your car and gas has risen to $3, $4 and $5/gal.

This Lack of Foresight is what is stunting our growth as a nation.

@RStui: I'm sure expense had something to do with it. High-capacity batteries are expensive; that's why the Tesla costs over $100,000. If GM put out a small electric car that cost that much everyone would laugh at them.

@RStui: I kind of look at it a different way. Think of the EV1 as a technology demonstrator. GM learned what they could from it, but it wasn't itself a viable car. It was impractical, expensive, and unsafe, and they lost money on every one they leased out. But now they're applying that knowledge to the Volt, which IS intended to be a practical car you can actually buy.

This is pretty much exactly what Honda is doing with the FC Clarity fuel cell car. They have no intention of selling the Clarity to a mass market; they're only leasing them out to celebrities for testing purposes and PR. They may eventually sell a fuel cell car but it won't be the Clarity.

"it isn't coming, it's here" (but not for long, folks)

I saw that movie a while ago. Rented it from Blockbuster.

They really didn't want to sell those cars.

I mean, I would have voted against the electric car mandate in California, because the government shouldn't meddle in the marketplace, but GM still seemed rather dishonest about the project.

Camera pans out, you see the car and shilouettes on the sidewalk. My first thought: chalk outlines. WTF?