Synopsis

This documentary investigates the rise and disappearance of General Motors' EV1, an all-electric car introduced in California during the 1990s. Using interviews, archival footage, and a tongue-in-cheek murder-mystery structure, the film examines the competing interests of automakers, regulators, oil companies, technology developers, and consumers. It asks why a promising zero-emission vehicle program ended with many of the cars being reclaimed and destroyed.

Factoids & Trivia

• The project grew out of filmmaker Chris Paine's experience leasing a GM EV1 in 1997. His enthusiasm for the car, followed by the disappearance of the EV1 fleet, became the starting point for the documentary.

• The EV1 was introduced in 1996 in response to California's Zero Emission Vehicle mandate. GM leased the cars rather than selling them outright, which allowed the company to reclaim them when the program ended.

• The destruction sequence involving a small, boxy electric car shows a Honda EV Plus, not a GM EV1. The Honda was another vehicle caught up in the wider retreat from battery-powered cars during the same period.

• The film premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and received a limited U.S. theatrical release on June 28, 2006. Its official website reported that it became the third highest-grossing theatrical documentary of 2006.

• Its deliberately playful title and "suspect" structure turn a complicated policy and business dispute into a recognizable murder investigation, while the documentary's real subject remains the difficulty of changing an industry built around gasoline.

• The film was nominated for documentary honors from the Writers Guild of America, the Broadcast Film Critics Association, and the Environmental Media Association. It won a special jury prize at the Mountain Film Festival and an audience award at the Canberra International Film Festival.