Who Killed the Electric Car?

Have you ever wondered why are the only cars we drive run on oil?

Where’s the electric or hydrogen fueled cars? It only seems that in the recent years that they have started emerging… but at a peculiarly slow rate. The inevitable death of gasoline was obviously foreseen ages ago, could it be that automobile titans have not have notice the vast goldmine that the predestine future of cars has to offer?

Or is there more to the story than what meets the eye?

In fact there was once an option sometime ago in 1997 of a car of zero emission and of zero gasoline: The EV1 electric car by General Motors. They started appearing throughout California but within a few years time, it vanished.

But why?

Was there a conspiracy on the side of big oil companies to destroy development of the electric vehicles?

GM presented the EV1 to consumers only under a lease program that had to be returned sooner or later. But lessee of the car and celebrities loved the EV1, they were the plug-in kind, worked exactly like a normal car would, fast, looked great, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective.

But in late 2003, GM officially canceled the EV1 program.

It was so loved, that consumers of the EV1 staged a mock funeral for their beloved departed car.

Despite the waiting lists, positive feedback and offers to buy from lesser, GM refused to produce anymore stating that they could not sell enough cars to make the EV1 profitable. Adding to that was the order to shred of all of these cars (new & old) even after numerous promises to reuses the cars. Shred? why?

Majority of them were stripped then crushed and only some deactivated EV1s were kept for University and showrooms but under the agreement never to reactivate them.

Was society unprepared for the future of cars?

This was based on the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car?" which unfortunately i have not watch.

The Conspiracy Theory

Car companies have been selling the internal combustion engine since forever. It provides the need for regular fixes, repairs and covers a wide margin. The electric car on the other hand challenges that with minimal maintenance due to the fact it doesn’t have an internal combustion engine that is linked to other parts like carburetors, air filters, transmission etc.

Thus, this threatens the whole fundamental business structure of car companies by wiping away large amount of sales in maintenance services and replacement parts… Do you really think that car companies want to create the perfect car? Planned obsolescence plays a part.

There’s another point to this, the electric car doesn’t need oil. This instantaneously quavers two dominant titans, the car company itself and the oil industry. It would be obvious to eliminate anything that threatens your place on the top, thus a very clear cut reason for oil companies to have opposed an electric infrastructure.

“There’s no question that people who control the market place (the oil companies) have a strong incentive to discourage alternatives, except for the alternative that they themselves control."