After the Nissan LEAF became the world’s first mass-market electric car in 2010, it took the United States a decade before one million electric vehicle (EV) sales were made nationwide. It took the country just two more subsequent years to repeat that total, and now in 2023, the U.S. is projected to reach one million EV sales before the year’s end, a record-breaking figure.
With governments around the globe currently setting a goal of all-electric vehicle sales within the next 20 years, getting more EVs on the road has become a common goal for a growing number of state, federal, and international lawmakers. Yet, filmmaker Chris Paine, widely known for his documentary works on the electric vehicle industry, remembers chronicling the early stages of this now rapidly expanding sector, back when today’s aspirations of mass EV adoption were still a very distant future.
“We’re definitely in act two. I don’t know if it’s like a five act opera or a three act movie. But we’re not where we were 20 years ago,” Paine said of the ongoing EV transition. “Now we’re at millions and millions of electric cars, I think the worldwide market is something like 18% of all vehicles sold. It’s a huge, huge shift. And yet, most people don’t have electric cars. There’s questions about them still. And we don’t know what these next few years are gonna look like. But a lot of people are betting that it’s going to be pretty electric.”
Paine directed “Who Killed the Electric Car” in 2006, followed by the 2011 sequel “Revenge of the Electric Car.” Both films received nominations for Best Documentary from the Environmental Media Awards, with the latter winning the honor.
The first film delved into the initial struggles of bringing electric vehicles to the market, while Paine’s second film explored the renaissance of electric vehicles.
“We made ‘Who Killed the Electric Car?’ because they repossessed my electric car from 2000. And we weren’t allowed to keep the cars and we thought, ‘Well, what’s going on? Why are the car companies so against electric vehicles?’ And obviously that’s changed,” Paine said. “All car companies are now really all in on it. When we made the second film about the rise of Tesla, and GM’s shift in strategy, and Nissan, that was more like, ‘Okay, the electric car is coming back.’”
As automakers have increasingly embraced putting more resources toward electric vehicle production, with industry leaders doubling their spending on the sector to nearly $1.2 trillion through 2030, the overall car market share of EVs has risen from around 4% in 2020 to 14% in 2022. The market is poised to further jump up to 18% this year. However, concerns remain over whether the “explosive growth” will ultimately plateau.
“If you look at the way that people gave up on horses slowly, I think gas cars overtook horses in 1924, or something.” Paine said. “And there’s like real little ripples, the industry can’t catch up or the price isn’t right. There’s always going to be pull backs in growth.
“But I think just the value proposition of not having to buy gasoline, having all your energy made in the U.S., which is what electricity is, and also the kind of superior performance … most people will just find a better driving experience. And that’s going to keep this thing growing.”
Though overall EV sales continue to rise, the growth rate of sales in the U.S. has dropped by more than 20% in the first half of the year. However, long-term EV sales projections still remain optimistic for the future of the industry, as multiple studies have predicted vehicle electrification will grow to likely encompass two-thirds of global car sales by 2030.
“There’s a lot of, whenever you have big changes, just tremendous amounts of fear and misinformation and doubt about it,” Paine said. “And frankly, most people don’t really want to change what they’re doing unless they really understand that it’s gonna be better for them.”
