Revenge of the Electric Car - Trailer Released!

[Nubo]

...The overall tone of the movie comes across as rather dire towards EVs; it's all about the problems people and companies are facing trying to get the electric car into the mass market. That's not "revenge" of any sort... to really be the "Revenge of the Electric Car" we need real success stories...

Good point. That's really the glue that is missing in the story, I think. In "Who Killed..." we could identify with all of the enthusiastic renters who had their cars hauled away and crushed. In "Revenge..." we get to hear Danny DiVito wax rhapsodic about his old EV-1. But we don't hear at all from the growing army of new EV owners who are happy with their new cars despite the Wall o' FUD that was supposed to discourage them.

The movie's start is promising enough. A car nut tells us how important the road system is, how he loves horsepower and cars in general but will never buy another gasoline car again. Then the movie begins to drift. The examination of the corporate players is interesting enough, but we never get back to WHY the electric car is compelling.

Maybe they thought that this ground was already covered. Maybe the film was produced a little too early. Maybe a "Rise of the Electric Car" is in the works? In another 5 years the critical mass of ownership will be bringing infrastructure issues to the forefront. "Now with a million Electric Vehicles on the nations roadways the time has come to...." :mrgreen:

 

[adric22]

Oh, by the way. For those of you who watched online.. I ordered the DVD. There are a lot of extras on the DVD. A lot of it is not very interesting and I can see why it wasn't included. The most interesting bit is a 30-minute segment where they had just played the movie for the first time and most of the stars of the show are at the viewing. They get together and have an interview with several of the characters, including Carlos Ghosn, Chris Paine, Elon Musk, and a few others. This is a pretty interesting interview.

 

[Yanquetino]

Actually, the 300 pound gorilla in the room that was totaly ignored was the advent of high density lithium ion batteries, this happened at the end of 2007/2008, and what allowed tesla to produce the roadster. Before this, EVs where all "science projects", not enough range with lead acid batteries and too much weight. Yes, the EV1 existed before, the first version used lead acid, then the large format NiMh batteries that where workable, before panasonic sold the pattents to big oil, who promptly killed the technology.

The development of high density lithium batteries was ignored... Yes, I know the Tesla is using laptop batteries.

Yes, you're right about that 300 pound gorilla, except... it actually started much earlier that 2007/2008. Nissan was experimenting with lithium batteries in its Altra EV back in the '90s, when the other EV manufacturers were using NiMH.

The real turning point, however, was in 2003, when AC Propulsion put 6,800 lithium cells in its second tZero concept car, giving it a 300 mile range. You might recall that Alan Cocconi showed off that vehicle at the end of Who Killed the Electric Car. My understanding is that Martin Eberhard put up the money to try those lithium cells in the tZero, but since AC Propulsion didn't want to start producing those cars commercially, he decided to license the technology and start Tesla instead --which is why the Roadster has a similar small-cell lithium battery pack. As does the eBox, with its 5,300 cells, that AC Propulsion started converting from Scion xBs in 2006.

 

[Yanquetino]

Oh, by the way. For those of you who watched online.. I ordered the DVD. There are a lot of extras on the DVD. A lot of it is not very interesting and I can see why it wasn't included. The most interesting bit is a 30-minute segment where they had just played the movie for the first time and most of the stars of the show are at the viewing. They get together and have an interview with several of the characters, including Carlos Ghosn, Chris Paine, Elon Musk, and a few others. This is a pretty interesting interview.

The most interesting "extra" on the DVD for me was the conversation with Ghosn in his car, in which he actually opens up a bit about his personal life, where he was born, grew up, what languages he speaks, how he has to adapt the delivery of his same "message" as CEO according to the particular culture, how his children have been able to deal with moving so often to very different countries, etc., etc. As a language teacher by profession, I would really love to get to know him better. Fascinating!

 

[adric22]

The most interesting "extra" on the DVD for me was the conversation with Ghosn in his car, in which he actually opens up a bit about his personal life, where he was born, grew up, what languages he speaks, how he has to adapt the delivery of his same "message" as CEO according to the particular culture, how his children have been able to deal with moving so often to very different countries, etc., etc.

Where is this? I don't remember seeing that anywhere.

 

[Yanquetino]

The most interesting "extra" on the DVD for me was the conversation with Ghosn in his car, in which he actually opens up a bit about his personal life, where he was born, grew up, what languages he speaks, how he has to adapt the delivery of his same "message" as CEO according to the particular culture, how his children have been able to deal with moving so often to very different countries, etc., etc.

Where is this? I don't remember seeing that anywhere.

In the "Main Menu," click on "Extras." Then click on "Interviews." Then click on "Carlos Ghosn."

 

[Sasparilla]

Just to be correct:

...then the large format NiMh batteries that where workable, before panasonic sold the pattents to big oil, who promptly killed the technology....

Actually it wasn't Panasonic that owned the patents - it was General Motors who had a controlling interest (a bit over 50%) of the battery company (Ovonic) that owned the patents to the NiMH. Once GM decided they didn't want to be in EV's, besides destroying all the EV1's they sold their interest in the battery company, and its patents, to Texaco in a sweetheart deal for ~ $1.5 million (for one of the most advanced battery technologies of the time) - ensuring nobody else could have EV's running on NiMH either.

Panasonic and other Japanese producers had to license the technology from Ovonic after Ovonic won a patent suit against them early on (long before GM sold Ovonic to Texaco).

After purchase, Texaco (who was purchased by Chevron) allowed anyone who wanted to license the NiMH technology to do so - except for large cell (required for EV's) uses which required the approval of the board of directors (which has never been given). Although Chevron has since sold its stake in Ovonic - they maintained their board of directors approval say on large format licensing as part of the deal - keeping NiMH off limits to plug-ins till its patents expire through 2015.

One of the interesting facets about NiMH is that its still cheaper per kWh than existing Li batts. (this should change with Gen 2 Leafs) NiMH also has a unique characteristic that, if managed properly, allows little to no degradation of pack capacity as its cycled (making it perfect for an EV). This is why Prius's can go 200,000 miles and have no issues with their pack capacity. Honda's hybrids on the other hands shows what can happen when NiMH capacity isn't managed properly.