Electric Vehicles in Film
Find out how electric vehicles have been used in film throughout the years.
Cars have been in film for as long as we can remember. From the iconic Aston Martins in the James Bond films, to the plethora of models in the Fast and Furious franchise, we love seeing beautiful machines on the big screen. Here’s how electric vehicles are going to have an impact on television and cinema.
The History
The first electric vehicle to be featured in film was the Baker Electric Stanhome in the 1951 musical comedy, ‘Excuse My Dust’. The film follows an amateur inventor in 1895 who has designed a ‘horseless carriage’.
The Baker Motor Vehicle Company was founded in 1899 in Cleveland Ohio and used nickel-iron batteries to power their vehicles. Thomas Edison owned a Baker vehicle as his first car, and the company was merged with Rauch and Lang in 1914. The Stanhome was the company’s smallest model.
The Data
According to data from Gridserve, there has been a 2,967% increase in the number of EVs in films since 2010. There were only three EVs that had appeared on the big screen in 2010, but 92 by 2022.
The Tesla Model S appears on our television and cinema screens more than any other model, which is unsurprising as it is the UK’s best selling EV brand. The Model S made it in 75 different films, and the Models X and 3 in 35 and 36 films respectively.
The data also found that half of the EVs in cinema were Hatchback models. There have only been two pick-up EV models featured – which is unsurprising, as there are limited pick-up models on the market.
The Big Screen
Electric vehicles have been at the forefront of several Hollywood blockbusters and franchises.
In Jon Favreau’s Iron Man, Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr) is a billionaire playboy, who, like his actor, has an infinity for cars. In Stark’s entourage over the series, we spot a Tesla Roadster and an Audi R8 e-tron. The e-tron appears in Iron Man 2 and 3, Captain America: Civil War, and Avengers: Endgame. In The Avengers, Iron Man drives a hybrid Acura NSX concept car.
The Tesla Model S – the most frequent EV model we keep spotting on our screen – is featured in The Kingsman (2015) and Fifty Shades of Grey (2015).
The Nissan Leaf appears in Parental Guidance (2012) and The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020). In 2019, the Nissan Leaf took centre stage in Michael Dowse’s ‘Stuber’, starring Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Batista. Nanjiani plays an Uber driver – his vehicle being a Nissan Leaf.
The Future
In February, Netflix announced that they were teaming up with General Motors campaign ‘Everybody In’ to promotion the mass adoption of electric vehicles. The streaming service said that it aims to increase the presence of EVs in Netflix productions, while also taking steps to enable more sustainable production.
GM will offer its electric models for selected Netflix works, such as Love Is Blind, Queer Eye, and Unstable, which will feature the Chevrolet Bolt EUV, GMC Hummer EV Pickup, and the Cadillac LYRIQ respectively.
The partnership means that GM are not paying Netflix for placement of their products – the goal is to naturally expose electric vehicles to audiences.
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