Guys, don't forget that most of us probably had a hand in killing that car as well. I know I did. I purchased my Ford Expedition in September of 1997. Not to make excuses, but I was completely ignorant of my place in the world. I was completely self-centric (being only 21, that's not totally unheard of). September 11th and the events that followed were a real wake up call for me.

That being said, I still think things are going to play out similar to the 70's. Oil will continue to climb to a breaking point. Once that hits (probably not too much further out since we're announcing "plans" for energy independence), OPEC will open some reserves or find some way of dropping their prices to an obscenely low level similar to what we saw in the late 80's early 90's. The big question then is do we go back to our national drug (petrol) or do continue to push for energy independence and lower emissions.

It was only ever available in two states, so probably not.

Overall consumer culpability was a factor, the film argues, but I think that's where the film's imbalance hurts it. Even if the EV-1 were available in all 50 states, a good chunk of the population simply could not use one. Many people in urban areas don't have dedicated parking spaces, let alone garages or carports. One day you get a spot in front of your place, the next day you're down the block.

With an 80 mile range and a limit of 76 miles per hour, the RAV-EV was probably a hard sell for a LOT of people. On the bright side, studying the performance characteristics of this SUV was probably instrumental in the development of the Highlander Hybrid.

At least Toyota DID SOMETHING with the data, as opposed to GM (who pretended their EVs never existed and crunched them.)

Finally made it to the movie tonight. It was interesting, but not all that well put-together, I thought. Wait, this isn't the film critic forum? Nevermind.

They covered pretty much everything we knew, but there was one shocker: the guy who headed the CARB board accepted a job as head of the fuel cell consortium one month before the board repealed its ZEV mandate. That was kind of a jolt.

And the guy from the American Petroleum Institute adds some much-needed comic relief from his chutzpah alone.

Would-be hypermiler

Everyone here realizes that you can come see a working EV1 at Hybridfest on July 22 in Madison, Wisconsin right?
The University of Wisconsin received a gutted EV1 from GM and then the UW Hybrid Team brought it back to life.

You'll need to register by July 12 if you want to sit in on the seminar where the faculty advisor for the Hybrid Team is speaking, but even idf you miss the registration date you could still ask the Team more about it since they will have it on display all day.

You can also find more Hybridfest info at this Greenhybrid thread.

Eric Powers

MHG Organizer - www.MadisonHybridGroup.com
Hybridfest 2008 - A Hybrid Electric Car Show and More! www.hybridfest.com
Madison, WI July 19 & 20, 2008

I saw this movie tonight, and have to say it lived up to the hype I heard. I consider myself to be pretty knowledgeable about the subject matter, and yet learned a few things from the movie.

The part that got me the most as I think about the 19,200 miles my 2004 Civic has with rattling behind both A frame braces and the "Maint Req'd" light lit on the dashboard was the point about the almost zero maintence required for the EV-1, and how the auto industry was worried about that because they make so much money from the maintenance end of the sale of the car.

The scary thing about this whole thing is how few people even knew the ev1 existed. Now, I know, we're a little backwards here in the northeast, but still.. Most people I talked to about this never heard of it.

I moved to Berkeley in 1998, so I saw some around every now and again. I never saw a eRav4, but I saw the Honda and EV1 around. I think most the Rav4's wound up in LA for some reason.

I do not know, but I think they lack power. am I wrong?