…but only in the USA
By Will Dron on January 24, 2012 6:13 PM
Chris Paine’s stellar documentary ‘Revenge of the Electric Car’ is available to buy on DVD from today. The bad news is, they’re all Region 1 (USA) format discs, so those of us this side of The Pond will either need a ‘region free’ player or we’re in for a bit more of a wait.
We’ve asked how long and as soon as we get a definitive answer (they’re checking for us) we’ll post an update here. In the meantime, here’s the lowdown on the film with details of how and where to buy below…
The race to launch a new wave of electric cars
‘Revenge’ is Paine’s follow-up to his 2006 film ‘Who Killed the Electric Car?’, which investigated who was to blame for the all-but destruction of the electric car industry around the time General Motors EV1 pure-electric was recalled from service and scrapped. It was described by many as a murder mystery, examining each possible culprit one by one – consumers, batteries, oil companies, the California Air Resources Board and the US government were all suspects.
‘Revenge of the Electric Car’, which had its world premiere at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival in New York, is an altogether more positive movie. With unprecedented behind-the-scenes access at Chevrolet, Nissan and Tesla, it charts the “race” to get the electric car back onto the market, with all three manufacturers bringing a groundbreaking vehicle to the table.
We meet Carlos Ghosn, the man responsible for the Nissan LEAF, the world’s first ever mass-produced, purpose built pure-electric car. Up against him is Bob Lutz, top dog (at the time) at General Motors with the Chevy Volt extended-range electric car up his sleeve. Lutz was the man who made the decision to scrap the EV1 programme so it’s a bit of an about-face for the former Marine, but this time he’s convinced by his challenger… well, it has a petrol engine in it too.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk, a young upstart multi-millionaire who made his money from selling his money-handling website PayPal (you may have heard of it!) got in on the pure electric act with Tesla Motors. Musk’s first car, the Tesla Roadster, is a supercar based on the Lotus Elise. With a 200+ mile range and a 0-60mph time of 3.7 seconds, it’s a car that forever changed the world’s perceptions of what an electric vehicle could be.
We also get a glimpse of the EV conversion business through eyes of Greg “Gadget” Abbott, who’s busy putting together electric Porsche Speedsters in a California warehouse. Well, until disaster strikes, anyway. Check out our interview with Gadget here (WARNING: spoilers!).
Of course, a few years have passed since Chris Paine and his crew filmed the four protagonists, with TheChargingPoint.com documenting the continuing drama of the electric vehicle industry (other news sources are available, apparently). However, ‘Revenge of the Electric Car’ is a significant account of how the car industry finally woke up and made the tough but all-important push into the future of motoring.
DVD extras and purchasing info
The DVD is apparently “jam-packed with special features and deleted scenes”, including a 35-minute panel discussion at Tribeca with Paine, Musk, Ghosn and journalist Dan Neil, and moderated by actor David Duchovny, most famous for his X-Files role and more recently, Californication.
The ‘Revenge’ team is asking people to purchase directly through distributor New Video (click here to order), which ensures that more of the revenue goes directly to the film makers.
It’s currently priced there at $29.95, which is, let’s face it, a bit steep, but it’s worth paying a bit more to support the film in our opinion.
If you really want to save $5 or $10, it can also be purchased at a reduced price through the following outlets:
Amazon.com
Barnes and Noble/ BN.com
Walmart.com
Bestbuy.com
North American resident will also find the film through the following outlets:
Direct TV VOD
ECHOSTAR IPVOD
Verizon
TVN
Charter
AT&T
Revenge of the BluRay?
The people at ‘Revenge’ tell us they have no plans for a BluRay release at present. However, they have had quite a few requests for a high definition disk version so they’ll make a call on it once they’ve seen how the DVD sales go. So, if you want ‘Revenge of the Electric Car’ on BluRay, get your friends to buy the DVD first.