A new movie came out last week called Who Killed The Electric Car.

Mrs. A brought it home because it seemed like a good movie to watch after enduring Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth.

Gore's movie was so depressing that I wanted to shut off the power at the breaker box and sit in my dark, cold house in shame for being a member of the human species.

But even though it's no fun to be scolded, it's an important film to see, especially for young people, because they will be saddled with the decisions their elders make today. This new documentary with a somewhat jocular title, sounded like it might have a bit of comic relief, but sadly, after only fifteen minutes I was ready to head for the breaker panel again.

The film, about the fate of electric cars in this country in the mid nineties, dealt most specifically about a car that General Motors made for about three years called the EV-1.

The gist of the movie questions who is at fault for the failure of electric cars to become commonplace in the U.S.

Electric cars need a simple household outlet to charge them up and though their traveling range is about 70 miles on average, the vast majority of potential users do not commute farther than that anyway. They emit a very small fraction of the pollutants that petroleum fueled vehicles do and need almost no maintenance.

In the middle of the movie an interviewer asks a GM mechanic to ask about the service record of the EV-1.

The mechanic begins to pull parts out of a pile, saying, "This is a muffler...don't need this with an electric car, this is a catalytic converter, unnecessary with the EV-1, this radiator, these fan belts, etc, etc.." you get the point.

The mechanic even explained that the brakes never needed attention because of a built-in "regenerative braking" system that does some of the work of slowing the car when needed.

We can argue the value of different alternative fuels until we get green in the face, but there are hurdles with them all.

Greasel is nearly free if you are handy with things like mixing tanks, and it makes your diesel car smell like french fries.

Biodiesel can be made from soy and rapeseed crops that are grown in our own states, but it's only good for diesel vehicles and may ultimately end up being cheaper to import.

Ethanol made from corn supports the American farmer, but according to a recent Cornell U study, may require more energy to manufacture than it can provide in use.

Hydrogen fuel cells are fundamentally very clean, but require expensive infrastructure in filling stations and because of the second law of thermodynamics, hydrogen fuel cells will always have a bad "energy return on energy invested" index.

Even though our own automakers, GM, Ford, Chrysler and American Motors have not seen fit to provide consumers with viable alternatives, (the Ford Escape hybrid being a lackluster exception averaging only 30 mpg) Japan has stepped up.

The Toyoto Prius and Honda Insight are two examples of currently available gas/electric hybrids that get in excess of 50 miles per gallon, and it is possible to modify these vehicles to get double that number. Where do you get one of these personal transportation marvels?

The Toyota dealership in Auburn will sell you a brand new Prius for $27K or you can find a used Honda Civic or Insight Hybrid on Ebay for much less.

To be sure, the real issue is not about how people can continue to maintain current lifestyles and still be green. It's more about the peculiar zeitgeist that "I am my car" and the truly best option is to find a way to pry us out of them altogether.

Individuals with moxy and commitment will always be the leaders in this fight, but until governments decree meaningful laws to wean us off of oil dependency, the fate of the planet does not look good.

See both of these movies if you dare. And if my house looks dark, I'm not hiding out with the lights and furnace off. I'm out riding my bicycle.