Ryan ChartrandNot dead yet, the world’s newest electric car will be making its way to Cal Poly today, along with a special showing of the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?” accompanied by the film’s director.
The film will play tonight in the Performing Arts Center’s Philips Hall at 7:30 pm and is free for all. It is part of an electric car awareness day organized in part by Cal Poly scholar in residence John Dunning, who was one of the engineers who created the now-dead EV-1 electric car chronicled in the documentary.
“Who Killed the Electric Car?” examines the demise of General Motors’ EV-1 electric car in the 1990s and has gained much media attention since its release. The documentary explores the roles the automobile industry, oil industry, US government and consumers played in limiting the development of electric vehicle technology. The film’s director Chris Paine and one of its stars, Chelsea Sexon, are also coming to campus.
The fully-electric eBox car by AC Propulsion will also make its way to campus as part of the day’s electric car events. Described by Dunning as “one of the most advanced electric drive systems in the world,” the eBox is a fully-electric version of the Scion xB, and debuted last December at the AltCar Expo.
“I am excited that this subject is being brought to campus,” said Dunning, continuing that he thought it was important for a technology-oriented school such as Cal Poly to be aware of the EV-1’s plight and newest electric car technology available on the market.
“One gets zero-emission transportation with electric cars,” Dunning said. “This is part of what I call ‘the vision’ that we developed at GM (with the EV-1 electric car).”
Dunning, “As a guy from the (electric car) industry my whole career, and as the newest research scholar in residence, I have been very impressed by Cal Poly’s approach,” he said. “When you take these efforts, combine them with instruction on sustainable architecture and design, as well as physical science courses on global energy and climate, Cal Poly does a very good job of what I call ‘actionable sustainability.’ We talk the talk but we also walk the walk.”
But for today at least, Cal Poly won’t so much be walking the walk as getting a taste of what it’s like to drive the electric.
Ironically, the eBox prototype was driven for the first time on June 24, 2006, the opening day for “Who Killed the Electric Car?”
On its Web site, the Ebox’s manufacturers say, “With the first eBox deliveries scheduled in January, AC Propulsion will pry the lid off the EV coffin – the electric car is not dead after all.”