by JUSTIN HERBERGER
Intern News Reporter

Appalachian State University’s Sustainable Transportation Club hosted a showing of the Sundance Film Festival documentary, “Who Killed the Electric Car,” Thursday.

The Dragonfly Theater and Pub, the location of the event, filled with students, Boone locals and others interested in sustainability.

Several of the event’s attendees gathered to see the electric cars and scooters on display.   

Attendees fill the Dragonfly Theater and Pub Thursday for the showing of the documentary “Who killed the Electric Car” to raise awareness. Photo by Martin Stamat

R. Scott Loeffler of Asheville was invited by the club to display a collection of electric vehicles for the moviegoers.

Loeffler is the owner of Asheville E-Scooter, Inc., a company that rents electric vehicles to environmentally conscious travelers. 

“We all need to make the change to make our planet livable,” he said. “There should be more of this, all over.”

Susan A. Winston, senior appropriate technology major and Sustainable Transportation Club president said the club aims “to promote awareness and to teach people more about all the different forms of sustainable transportation.”  

The documentary, made by filmmaker Chris Paine, chronicles the short history of the General Motors’ EV1, the first modern production electric vehicle from a major automaker.

According to the documentary, the car was developed to meet the demands of the California Air Resources Board.

The board mandated 2 percent of all new cars sold by the seven major auto manufacturers in the state of California were to meet “zero emission” standards by 1998.

Ten percent of cars were to meet the standards by 2003.

The mandate was dropped April 24, 2003 by the California Air Resources Board due to pressure from automakers, according to the documentary. 

The film features interviews with celebrities Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks, Alexandra Paul, Peter Horton and Ed Begley, Jr.; all were drivers of the EV1.

“There’s still roughly a trillion barrels worth of oil in the earth’s crust. That’s a 100 trillion dollars of business yet to be done,” Wally E. Rippel, research engineer for the company AeroVironment said in an interview for the documentary.

The documentary explores the reasons why automakers, members of the Bush administration, oil companies and other components of the industry did not want to accept the presence of an electric vehicle on the market.

Attendees of the event were also treated to shows by local bands Hot Rod Lincolns and Rhythm’s Children after the movie.

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