Not to Beat a Dead Battery, But...
We swear this will be our final electric-car post, at least until the next one, but there was one other tidbit we learned from Chris Paine, the writer-director of the excellent Who Killed the Electric Car?, which is now playing at Edwards University in Irvine.
Paine, Seal Beach activist Doug Korthof and actor-director Peter Horton (who you may recall from TV's thirtysomething) were among the leasees of GM EV-1s who tried desperately to extend their leases, buy their cars outright and delay the automaker's confiscation of their prized autos as long as possible. You could feel the heartbreak when Horton's is shown in the film being towed away finally. All three also fought like the dickens to prevent their confiscated cars and hundreds more from being crushed--another losing battle, sadly.
But here's something the three also had in common: bills around $1,200 each from GM after their leases expired. Even though the cars were crushed, the dealers--like they do with the gas-powered versions--went through each vehicle with fine-toothed combs (or whatever the hell it is they use) to find any scratch or scrape they could bill the leasees for. Now, this makes sense for cars that are going to be re-sold, but vehicles headed for the crusher? Amazing.
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Matt says:
It's not bad, just vastly overrated.
Posted on Friday, Jun. 30 2006 @ 1:06PM
Chris Brunner .com says:
Why don't we have Electric Cars?...
Ever wonder why it is that we have so many alternative sources of fuel but still don't see companies cropping all over the place the promote and profit from them? It doesn't seem to makes sense.
Well, Chris Paine, the creator of the movie...
Posted on Friday, Jun. 30 2006 @ 1:06PM
el serracho says:
so you're saying that greed ISN'T good?
Posted on Friday, Jun. 30 2006 @ 1:06PM
Robin Cook says:
Isn't it great that all the electic cars now run on gasoline. Only in America
Posted on Friday, Jun. 30 2006 @ 8:06PM
Ford Parts News says:
Hope For The Electrics...
There is still hope for the electric cars. One of the leaders who would be attending this event would be our very own US president. I just do hope he sees the fact that electric cars are very beneficial....
Posted on Friday, Jun. 30 2006 @ 9:06PM
Matt says:
First off, the "it's not bad" comment was directed at el serracho's greed question.
B) Chris, I think there are a lot of companies out there ready to profit off this, but they are up against multi-million dollar ad blitz's by major automakers for their gas-burning vehicles, and a mainstream media (and even some of my buddies in the alt. press) who have bought into the Big Oil/Big Auto line that EVs don't cut it.
I think what the other Chris, Chris Paine, is saying is the market, sooner or later, will move to the alternatives despite all this. I don't share his optimism, but I'd LOVE to be proven wrong.
Posted on Saturday, Jul. 1 2006 @ 10:07AM
el serracho says:
dear matt -
chris's text is part of a trackback. not a comment. for some reason, your crummy blog software combines them... lame.
in christ's love,
el serracho
Posted on Saturday, Jul. 1 2006 @ 11:07AM