The Dark Ages of the Electric Car: 1960-1980

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I've heard over and over, apparently from people who only just found out, that electric cars are not new. Indeed, the very first cars were electric or steam, gas powered cars came later. Everyone's also well aware by now of the failed attempt to revive electric cars in the 1990s, with the doomed General Motors EV1.

Few seem to know that there was a brief flourishing of electric commuter cars in the 1970s due to the oil embargo. Suddenly the idea of buying a little electric runabout that could take care of your commute to and from work pick up groceries and drop the kids off at school for a couple pennies worth of electricity seemed like a damned good idea. Even if they looked like props from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica:

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This is the 1975 Zagato Elcar. One of many competing micro electric commuter cars of the era, nearly all of which ran on the humble lead acid battery. Not even today's maintenance free, sealed ones. We're talking flooded lead batteries where you had to top up the electrolyte with distilled water every month and never, ever tip the car over.

The range was 50 miles, optimistically. It would drop by half during very cold weather. Top speed was between 40 and 50mph depending if the "boost mode" was activated, which sacrificed some torque for a greater top speed.

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The Citicar, called the Buddy in some markets, was manufactured during the same timeframe as the Zagato Elcar. Made by Sebring-Vanguard, it was based on tech they developed for electric golf carts and it showed. Once again it used the venerable flooded lead acid battery, even by that time a century old battery type.

It came in 36 and 48 volt versions, with performance very similar to the Elcar. There's only so much you can do with lead batteries. Top speed was 38mph, range was 40 miles on a warm day, assuming no steep hills or strong wind.

Remember too, recharging a lead pack from 110v means a charge time of between 8 and 12 hours depending on the wattage of the charger. That's right, drive for 1 hour then charge for 8. Shit was dire.

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The Henney Kilowatt, closest thing to an actual car on this list, actually predates the ElCar and Citicar. It came out in two versions between 1959 and 1960. Revoluntionary for its time, it initially came in 36 volt with a 40mph top speed and range of 40 miles.

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Pretty soon it was decided those numbers wouldn't cut it. So a revision came out with a 72 volt drive system boasting a top speed of 60mph and optimistic range of 60 miles. For 1960, compared to the other "cars" on this list, that was pretty damned good.

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Naturally, some sacrifices had to be made to achieve that result in 1960. There was no space in the boot. The Henney Kilowatt was basically just an electrified Renault Dauphine, not originally designed for electric drive. Still, in the era it came out it was the best of a lot of bad options if you insisted on driving an electric car.

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The CityEl pushes the boundaries for this article since it came out in 1987, just barely qualifying. Is it a car? is it a motorbike? Danish company El Trans A/S, later sold to Citycom, designed about the least substantial enclosed vehicle they could get away with. The less it weighs, the further it can go on one charge.

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The design has been compared by some to a bathtub you can drive. The entire top half swings up on a hinge so you can enter or exit. It seats just one, and then only barely. Much like the Henney Kilowatt, a 36 volt model was tried initially to see how little power they could get away with (to maximize range).

But again, the upgrade to 72 volt came very quickly for safety and practicality reasons, boosting the speed from 30 miles per hour up to 40, with an essentially unchanged range of about 30 miles. Lead acid batteries again, naturally. Today, clubs of adoring owners still maintain their CityEl vehicles and have upgraded them with lithium ion batteries that drastically improve range.

Those of you who follow Simone Giertz of Shitty Robots probably already know, by the way, that she recently bought herself a refurbished yellow Citicar she calls "Cheese Louise":

Anyway that's by no means a complete list, but a glimpse of what was on offer during the brief reappearance of electric cars on the auto market during the 60s, 70s and 80s. I may yet do an article covering more of them, and perhaps including some of the stranger 1990s models that I don't often see discussed elsewhere.

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^{Stay Cozy!}