Filmmaker examines demise of beloved electric car

Greeley Tribune ^ | March 27, 2008 | Chris Casey

[Dane]

When electric cars became available in California in the 1990s, he leased the EV1. "Within about 30 days of driving this car for the first time, I became an addict for electric cars. The principal reason was because they were so fast."

Ultimately, the knock against electric cars was that they don't knock, Paine said. While many things factored into the cars' demise -- from corporate and political pressure to tepid consumer demand -- the fact they don't require replacement parts is a major downfall, Paine said.

The combustible engine is revered because of its many moving parts, which keeps the lucrative back-end businesses of repair and replacement parts revving along, he said.

Now, however, with gas prices soaring and demand for fuel economy rising, automakers are returning to electric, he said. Vehicles that mix plug-in energy for the first 60 miles or so then kick into gas power for longer trips are gaining favor. Automakers "like it because it fits their business model" of still requiring repairs and service.

[Dane]

Yes I know the filmaker is a leftist, but is his contention correct about the electric car motor?

With gas hitting $4 a gallon, will this be the demise of the 100 year old internal combustible engine.

[G-Bear]

I wouldn’t believe a report from anybody that used the term “combustible engine.”

[martin_fierro]

Any time I ever saw one of those things, it was broken down by the side of the road.

[RC2]

It’s true. Detroit depends on parts that wear out. GMC fired the design engineer of the 283 engine.....why? They never wore out and GMC had wharehouses full of spare parts. It was a good engine. Today, you don’t repair cars, you replace parts. Nobody tries and figure out why a part broke, they just replace the part.

[stylin19a]

I wonder how well that EV1 worked ( or would have worked ?)
in the cold,crappy winter we’ve had ?

[Jagman]

This is a crock. Granted,the electric motor itself probably didn't require much service, but as i recall, GM’s electric vehicle was powered at first by lead-acid batteries and later by nickle-metal hydride batteries, which did require replacement every several years at a cost of several thousand dollars — the equivalent of swapping out your engine every two years or so in an internal combustion engine vehicle!

[BGHater]

Hasn't this movie already been made?

[Cyber Liberty]

I drove one. I expected a golf-cart and I found out it had POWER.

[BGHater]

Duh, the film came out in 06. I got the impression it was a new release.

[beltfed308]

Any time I ever saw one of those things, it was broken down by the side of the road.

Maybe they ran out of extension cord.

[Mr. Lucky]

Combustible engine?

[norwaypinesavage]

"the fact they don't require replacement parts is a major downfall, Paine said."

What an idiot. Its downfall was because the batteries NEEDED to be replaced, at huge expense.

[NonValueAdded]

Short term memory? Gasoline-powered vehicles used to require waaaaaaaaaay more maintenance than they do now. If the article’s premise were true, why did Detroit let vehicles get away with 75k between tune-ups? Maybe the answer was to kill off the local mechanics and drive it all into the dealership.

[longtermmemmory]

no it is not correct.

There were more reasons for the failure of the EV-1.

It worked for those in as SUBSIDIZED (they did not have to pay) feet program but would never work otherwise.

[fabian]

yes, the electric car with the new nano lithium battery technology will be the future. Check out aptera.com...a little small but not bad...at about $28k and 135-205 mpg’s. It’s time the car companies say goodbye to high maintanance costs for consumers and say hello to a far better product for the customer. Let’s get with it.

[vikingd00d]

>>When electric cars became available in California in the 1990s, he leased the EV1. “Within about 30 days of driving this car for the first time, I became an addict for electric cars. The principal reason was because they were so fast.”

The EV1 had a top speed of 80 mph, and took at least 9 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph. Not exactly what I’d categorize as “fast”.

[norwaypinesavage]

"GMC fired the design engineer of the 283 engine.....why? They never wore out and GMC had warehouses full of spare parts."

That is absolutely NOT true. The designer was not fired, and the warehouses were not full of parts. The 283 had reliability typical of engines of its era - substantially better than the engines of the 50's, and not as good as the engines of the 70's.

[GBA]

The EV-1 might have been ahead of its time or probably just not what people wanted. I'm sure there are plenty of maintenance related parts on an electric car for both the dealer and the aftermarket to take care of. My Tacoma and Odyssey have not needed anything other than oil, filters, tires and windshield wipers, so if his contention were true, then Toyota and Honda should go out of business?

Gasoline is much higher in Europe and they still buy gasoline powered cars, though clean and efficient diesels are becoming more popular. If anything, higher gas prices will lead to even better engines.

[longtermmemmory]

SLOW recharge time.

Perhaps too much power usage to justify it on the consumer level.

Better betteries.

on and on.

Lets not also forget the nanny state mantra of eliminating personal vehicles.

[Bryan24]

Well, the guy has a point. An electric motor essentially has 1 moving part - the shaft.

An internal combustion engine has:
- A crankshaft
- Connecting rods
- Pistons
- Valves and valve springs
- Camshafts
- Throttle linkage
- Fuel Injectors

Lots of things to break there.