Who Killed the Electric Car?
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: June 28, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Who Killed the Electric Car? makes you angry, and also sad, to live in a country where innovation could be contrived into an enemy. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The only question his movie doesn't ask is "What do you want your next car to run on?" That's up to you. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
They were fast, they were sexy, they were clean, they were the future -- and they're already gone. Read full review
83
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Who Killed the Electric Car? makes you feel that no good idea, let alone good deed, goes unpunished. Only the exuberance of the moviemaking keeps your spirits high. Read full review
80
TimeRichard Corliss
Chris Paine's documentary makes an unapologetic case for the car and an unofficial indictment of the forces allied against it. Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
A murder mystery, a call to arms and an effective inducement to rage, Who Killed the Electric Car? is the latest and one of the more successful additions to the growing ranks of issue-oriented documentaries. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
A potent hybrid of passion and politics fuel this energetic and highly compelling documentary. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Above all, the film is an extended love letter to the EV1, a sleek GM electric marvel that, by Paine's reckoning, marks the single greatest innovation in human technology since the wheel. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Paine doesn't hide his liberal mind-set, but he lets all sides - from GM suits to Ralph Nader - have their say. By the closing credits, there's little doubt who killed the electric car. Read full review
75
PremiereEthan Alter
By the end of the film, you actually come to mourn the passing of the EV1, a well-intentioned soul that was in the right place at the right time, but was surrounded by the wrong people. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
In a sad twist of technological birth and infanticide, General Motors - with assists from the oil industry, the Bush administration, cowardly California energy officials and apathetic consumers - doomed the future car to the literal scrap heap of history. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A balanced examination of the reasons for the electric car's disappearance, reasons that include corporate collusion and greed, governmental spinelessness and oil company propaganda -- but also consumer indifference and the limitations of the vehicles themselves. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
There is an element of murder mystery and an edge of conspiracy thriller to Chris Paine's documentary about the rise and fall of General Motors' EV1 (Electric Vehicle 1). Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Shaped just like the murder-mystery its title promises, the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? introduces us to the victim, then rounds up the suspects most likely responsible for its demise. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
As efficient and zippy as its subject. Read full review
70
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
So who did kill the electric car? There are many suspects, and as it turns out, most of them are guilty. Read full review
70
VarietyRobert Koehler
Oil companies aren't the only ones profiting from a spike in prices at the gas pump. It's likely also to boost the prospects of Who Killed the Electric Car? a likable if partisan post-mortem on the now-defunct auto. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyJudith Lewis
It's a laudably complicated, if emotional and a little comic-book goofy, story of how a confluence of forces - industry skepticism, trained-seal lobbyists and, last but not least, consumer reluctance - undermined the future of a quiet little bean of mobile metal that the anointed few who could afford to lease it passionately adored. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesMichael Wilmington
Fascinating documentary. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Who Killed the Electric Car?, a fascinating feature-length documentary by Chris Paine, opens with a mock funeral, then follows the structure of a mock trial in which multiple suspects are found guilty.
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
By the end of Who Killed the Electric Car? you'll be worked into a lather one way or another. Paine crams in more theories, ideas and arguments than the movie can easily hold, but that's OK with me. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Nihilistic greed was the major factor when GM terminated the car in 2001, though Paine is also careful to note the passivity of the general public. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
You’ll leave the film wondering why you've never seen a TV ad for an electric car, or why GM is all about selling Hummers these days. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Impassioned, unwieldy and padded with celebrity interviews. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jennie Punter
Paine does offer something of a heroine in Chelsea Sexton; the attractive EV1 sales specialist was laid off in 2001, became an EV1 activist and is now executive director of Plug In America. Read full review
60
EmpireSam Toy
A story that deserves to be heard, but like the EV1, it’s a quiet achievement that should have been much louder. Read full review
50
Washington PostStephen Hunter
A lot of the film is illuminating; a lot of it is pointless. Read full review
40
Village VoiceRob Nelson
The real question is why this purportedly impassioned documentary investigation of a great subject--the culture's conspiratorial dismissal of eco-friendly alternatives to the gas-guzzler -- would assume such massive viewer disinterest that it coats the pill with C-list celebrity NutraSweet, including Martin Sheen voiceovers -- that would sound unforgivably hackneyed even on basic cable. Read full review
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