July 7 (Bloomberg) -- With gasoline prices stuck near $3 a gallon, over-reliance on foreign oil and concerns about global warming, it would seem an ideal time for a clean, quiet, fast car that's able to handle most people's daily commuting needs and could be recharged overnight at home like a cell phone.

General Motors Corp., starting in 1996, let 800 drivers in California and Arizona lease just such a car, the battery- electric EV1 coupe, product of a $1 billion development program. By 2004, though, GM had repossessed all remaining EV1s, crushing most of them for scrap metal. What went wrong?

``Who Killed the Electric Car?,'' a documentary by first- time director and ex-EV1 owner Chris Paine that opened last week in New York and Los Angeles, likens the model's disappearance to a murder mystery, suggesting that beyond the high costs, flawed batteries and limited consumer acceptance, sinister forces were at work.

``We're making the argument that Detroit made an amazing product and sidelined it for a variety of reasons,'' Paine said in an interview last week. ``EV1 represented a vision of the future, and they tossed it on the trash heap.''

The car, with hundreds of pounds of nickel-metal hydride batteries, could travel as far as 130 miles after a full eight- hour charge. It was leased for $299 to $574 a month, after ``significant'' subsidies from GM and government agencies, the automaker said on its Web site.

Premature Demise

Paine's explanations for the EV1's premature demise include a focus by GM on short-term profits -- notably, a decision to promote the newly acquired Hummer sport-utility vehicle brand -- and a lukewarm commitment from top management. That's evident in EV1 ads that the film suggests may have frightened away potential buyers with grim imagery.

Compounding factors included efforts by groups backed by oil companies to derail a California program to add public electric- charging stations; auto industry resistance to a state mandate that they sell more electric cars; and a decision by former California Air Resources Board Chairman Alan Lloyd to jettison battery cars in favor of more exotic hydrogen fuel-cell autos.

``What the film shows is the amount of enthusiasm and passion and loyalty people had for the EV1,'' said GM spokesman Dave Barthmuss, who also speaks for the company in the film, which he hasn't yet seen. ``We just wish there had been more of them.''

Zero-Emissions Mandate

California, seeking to cut air pollution, mandated in 1990 that by 1998 at least 2 percent of new autos sold in the state must emit zero tailpipe pollution, with the quota rising to 10 percent of sales by 2003. The state's Air Resources Board selected the electric car to meet the target after GM unveiled a prototype battery-powered model it said had no tailpipe exhaust.

GM, Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler AG and Nissan Motor Co. all began selling electric cars in the state, many of them ending up in government fleets.

By early in this decade, however, California's ``Zero- Emission Vehicle'' mandate was under attack by the industry from a series of federal lawsuits. In April 2003, the state abandoned the battery-electric portion of its air-quality mandate. Leases of most battery models soon ended.

The film is ``revisionist history,'' David Hermance, Toyota's U.S. executive engineer for advanced technology vehicles, said in an interview.

``The challenge of getting the battery costs down to acceptable levels was just too great. It still is,'' said Hermance, who worked on Toyota's RAV4 EV, the only electric car still leased in California by a major automaker.

The EV1 had more than 2,000 unique parts and a computer- controlled braking system. Over time, GM grew concerned about safety and liability issues as cars broke down, Barthmuss said.

``If that part failed, there were significant risks to the driver,'' Barthmuss said. ``No parts were available to keep them on the road.''

Hybrids

Since then automakers, led by Toyota and Honda, rolled out gasoline-electric hybrid cars and trucks offering better fuel economy and less tailpipe exhaust than conventional autos. Many of the hybrids' electronics were derived from the earlier electric models, but they needed battery packs just a fraction the size of an all-electric car, Hermance said.

Toyota's Prius, the top-selling hybrid, has since given the company a ``green'' image that could have been GM's, Paine said.

``GM had a product a decade ago that would have kept them far ahead of Toyota with its Prius,'' Paine said.

Paine argues that the company could restart the EV1 program by selling a small number of the cars to affluent former owners willing to pay the more than $100,000 it takes to produce them. ``Why don't they have a niche car in their lineup?''

Plug-In

Another option would be to offer a ``plug-in hybrid,'' a car with about twice as much battery capacity as a Prius that can be recharged from a household electrical outlet. Such models would allow drivers to travel almost entirely on electricity in city driving, yet have a gasoline engine to go longer distances on the highway.

``I want us to get off of foreign oil. Nothing could make me happier than to hear that GM is getting back into the plug-in business,'' Paine said. ``I hope this film gives them courage to try something dramatic.''

``Who Killed the Electric Car,'' is distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, narrated by Martin Sheen and features EV1 owners including actors Mel Gibson, Ed Begley Jr. and former ``Baywatch'' actress Alexandra Paul. In 2004, Paul was arrested during a final protest in Burbank, California, aimed at preventing GM from destroying the last 78 leased EV1s.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at aohnsman@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 7, 2006 00:10 EDT