Director of acclaimed Electric Car speaks on vehicle's resurgence

By Scott Norgaard     9/24/09 7:00pm

The solution to the economic crisis may not lie in bailouts, but in electric-powered cars. Chris Paine, writer and director of the 2006 documentary film Who Killed the Electric Car?, spoke to an audience of 90 at the Dore Commons in the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy on Monday about electric cars and their feasibility in the future U.S. economy. Despite his film's title, Paine suggested that the electric car is not dead, just a stifled innovation that, as public opinion shifts in its favor, has just begun to reach the mainstream.

Paine's lecture, "How Many Light Bulbs Does it Take to Plug in an Electric Car?", focused on the difficulties car companies have encountered in the past with electric cars, and provided a brief outline of what he believes to be the future of electric car technology. Paine's talk covered his observations in making his documentary, which sought to address why efficient electric cars, particularly GM's EV1, were repossessed and destroyed by car companies in the 1990s. The film analyzes the different elements behind the electric car's downfall, including Big Oil's involvement, governmental policy and consumer choices.

Paine began by explaining why consumers have typically been hesitant to adopt the electric car. The documentary mentions that electric car manufacturers have noticed a stigma in regard to electric cars and have thus run into marketing resistance.

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One of the consumers' main complaints, Paine said, is that the battery capacity is too low and that electric cars subsequently don't have enough battery life for sufficient traveling. According to Paine, advancements in the battery markets in the last decade have proven to be promising. He also said that an energy-density increase in today's batteries has helped attract capital to electric vehicles.

Getting the consumers to change their habits is difficult, Paine said. He credits cars like the Prius and other hybrids for helping to sway public opinion in favor of alternative technologies.

"Once you start driving these Priuses or hybrids, you think about electricity," he said. "As we move into this new world, thinking about how many kilowatt-hours it takes to go a certain distance is helpful,"

However, electric cars still have ground to cover in the design process. In addition to the traditional social stigma associated with them, car manufacturers must also address the range of electric cars, which is still years behind that of gas-powered cars.

Despite these setbacks in the electric car industry, Paine said he thinks there may be hope for the future of electric car technology with consumers' changing attitudes and their enthusiastic reception of hybrid cars.

"At the Frankfurt and Detroit Auto Shows, the electric car was the darling," Paine said. "Every time you go to Detroit, you get the sense that there is a lot of movement for the electric car."

Governmental policy may also be moving in favor of the electric car. Paine said President Barack Obama aims to get one million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on the road by 2015, a goal Paine thinks may help in the promotion of the electric car.

Taking his message to heart, Paine said he has gone to great lengths to reduce his environmental impact. He has owned an electric car for 12 years, and has solar panels attached to his house.

Wiess College sophomore Rebecca Jaffe said after attending Paine's talk, she thinks there may be a future for electric cars.

"I think with everyone getting excited with everything green, that there is more willingness to have them," Jaffe said.

However, she said the electric car may seem impractical to some consumers who often take their cars on extended drives.

"People are still going to be driving long distances," Jaffe said. "Having to have two cars [for one journey] might not be feasible."

Overall, Paine said that he sees the battle over electric cars as a thorny issue.

"When you change something as fundamental as the cars we drive and make them healthier, that is better for the world," Paine said.

Paine is creating a new documentary, Revenge of the Electric Car, which is scheduled to be released in 2011. Audience members were shown an exclusive trailer of the new documentary.

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