The promising life and clandestine death of the electric vehicle is afforded a thoroughly revealing autopsy (or is that auto-opsy?) in "Who Killed the Electric Car?" a dynamic documentary by first-time director and steadfast EV driver, Chris Paine. Screened at the Los Angeles Film Festival (it premiered in January at Sundance), the smartly presented film is built to last in theaters, what with the price of gas these days and the global-warming dialogue generated by that other talked-about docu, "An Inconvenient Truth." Turns out Ed Begley Jr. isn't the only electric vehicle fanatic roaming the streets, as Paine gathers such converts as Mel Gibson, Peter Horton and former "Bay Watch" babe-turned-EV activist Alexandra Paul.

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