who killed the electric car?
Who Killed the Electric Car has certainly lit up a few neurons in the outrage areas of my brain. In fact, this Electrical Vehicle (EV) neuron storm has extended beyond my outrage
processors, and gone on to ignite nearby areas of disgust, despair, and heck, I’ll admit
that there was some action in the more sociopathic regions of my psyche, as I flirted with
ideas of targeted terrorism against automobile manufacturers. But I’m getting ahead of
myself here.
The scenerio has the depressingly familiar hallmarks of the typical american conspiracy story. California car manufacturers (GM) reluctantly put an electric car on the
market under pressure to comply with California’s new air standards. Enter the EV1 — an
efficient, sexy, vehicle that is easy to use, a pleasure to drive, and has the added benefit
of extremely low environmental impact. Consumers respond favourably, in spite of the
manufacturers’ best efforts to sabotage the vehicle’s success through anti-marketing,
highlighting the vehicle’s shortcomings, and deliberate use of inferior battery technology
to limit its appeal.
Why on earth would GM go to such lengths to sabotage it’s own product? Why on earth has the entire industry not galloped off together in pursuit of this new technology — one that has not only enormous environmental benefits, but the potential to release us from dependence on foreign oil? Read the rest of this entry »
