The ampere strikes back

In the summer of 2006 documentarian Chris Paine declared the consumer electric vehicle dead. Done. Over. Finito. In his film ´Who Killed the Electric Car?´ the Californian director detailed how pro-oil legislation (tax breaks for SUVs and the scrapping of the California Air Resources Board´s zero emissions mandate being just two examples), industry conflicts of interest (doesn´t the automobile manufacturers´ marketing of electric power as clean imply that their core product is dirty?), and 30-year-low oil prices conspired to keep petrol-powered cars king of the bitumen. The modern electric vehicle was run off the road before it was even out of first gear.