The movie “Revenge of the Electric Car” has “opened.” A better way to say it is that the movie has been released for public viewing, if someone from the public wants to organize its viewing.

The movie tracks four efforts for electric cars by Bob Lutz from GM with the Chevy Volt; Carlos Ghosn from Nissan with the Leaf; Elon Muck, CEO of Tesla Motors; and Greg Abbott, the gadget guy that converts vehicles into electric vehicles.

“Revenge” is a sequel to Director Chris Paine’s “Who Killed the Electric Car?” which was a labor of love (death) by Paine, who owned one of GM’s EV-1’s.

In his first movie, Paine traces why his EV-1 was terminated by GM, and now he tracks why these companies are looking to bring the EV back. This movie is focused on the economics of car development, and I am sure it will be a fun watch.

Clearly the economics of energy are making the electric vehicle an alternative, but sitting here after the storm and knowing that friends in Connecticut are still without power, I look at the electric vehicle as a potential source of energy, as well.

If I could have driven to a charging station or to a neighbor’s and plugged the car into charge and then driven it home to charge the house, I would have been a very happy camper.

In theory, power was available; it was the distribution system that failed, so think of the car as a bypass mechanism. I recognize that the cars in the movie are not focused on this strategy. 

It is going to take a lot for this generation to get the initial charging stations in place, but momentum is building.

Likewise, on the smart grid side, we have a market set up for the house, not the garage. We just need to cross the road.