Electric Car Shuffled Away to Nation's Attic

June 11, 2006 – Vol.11 No.12

ELECTRIC CAR SHUFFLED AWAY TO THE NATION’S ATTIC.

The Washington Post reports that on the eve of the opening of the new film “Who Killed the Electric Car?” the Smithsonian Institution has removed a General Motors EV1 electric car from an exhibit in the National Museum of American History.

General Motors, which gave $10 million to the Smithsonian in 2001 to cover half the cost of the transportation exhibit hall where the EV1 was displayed, denies that it pressured the Smithsonian to remove the car, which is featured in the film. The Smithsonian also denies that GM asked them to hide the car.

The silver-blue 1997 EV1 is now in the dusty corners of a Smithsonian warehouse facility in Maryland. The EV1 on display was replaced by a robot-driven Volkswagen Touareg SUV. Visit the movie at http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/ (A must see, informative website.)