Electric Cars to Get Second Spotlight on the Silver Screen

One day before the first General Motors electric vehicle was sold at charity auction for $225,000, Chris Paine, the director of a popular documentary that told the story of GM’s first electric car, announced a release date for his new documentary “The Revenge of the Electric Car.”

Paine’s 2006 documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?” quickly rose as one of the most popular films at the height of the alternative energy movement in the United States.  The documentary shed light into a project few had ever heard of–the General Motor’s EV1.  Many have attributed the growing interest in electric vehicles to Paine’s 2006 documentary.

In the days leading up to the release of “Who Killed the Electric Car?,” General Motors, through a communications director, criticized Paine and his film.  The company even went so far to say that the release would by a flop, relying too heavily on a very small number of electric vehicle supporters to be of any success.

Those words proved to be untrue.  “Who Killed the Electric Car?” attracted an enormous following of fans while General Motors, having fallen on hard times of its own, went bankrupt three years after the film’s release.  Ironically, the collapse of General Motors has been attributed to its failure to produce smaller, and more efficient vehicles.

But while Paine may have first been at odds with General Motors, the new documentary will feature an interview with Robert Lutz, a former General Motors executive who was perhaps the most vocal supporter of the new Chevrolet Volt.  Other important figures in the automotive industry will make an appearance in the new film including Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of start up Tesla Motors.

The film is expected to premier in theaters in early 2011 but Paine admits the film may be simultaneously available for download on the movie’s official website, or through streaming content site Netflix.

Paine initially announced the trailer to the film would be made public once the movie earned 10,000 Facebook fans.  The trailer was put on YouTube on December 10.  More than 55,000 people have watched the two minute sneak peak.