The electric car would probably work for some people in this country, especially if they had more than one car. I know I could commute to work every day in one because I only go 2.1 miles to my office. But going 4.2 miles per day, 21 miles a week, 1050 miles a year (2 weeks I have vacation and I sure as hell wouldn’t take my electric car then), how much do I really save? It’s costing me a whole $262.50 a year to drive my tank to work @12 mpg. The electricity to recharge my car isn’t free, so lets say maybe maybe I save $200 a year.
But the car is a 2nd car, because it sure won’t tow my boat, or get my home improvement supplies from Lowes, or take me and all my shit on vacation, or even make it twenty miles when it’s cold and dark out. So I still need a “real” car, plus the EV1, and with it saving a big $200 a year as my commuter car it won’t save in a year what I’ll make in car payments for one month.
So chalk “who killed the electric car” right up there with 9/11 conspiracies; bullshit that warps tiny amounts of data while ignoring the vast amounts of other data. Simple economics killed the electric car. No one wanted it, it cost more to make than they were selling it for, and it wasn’t the slightest bit practical in the real world as a replacement for the internal combustion engine.
EDIT:
GM’s response to the movie: