TEN CARS THAT LEFT A MARK ON ELECTRIC CAR HISTORY
Since the turn of the 20th century, EVs have aimed to bring innovation to automobiles
Electric mobility is the hottest topic in the automotive industry right now. It’s new to many motorists, but the idea of a battery-powered car has been around for as long as the car itself. We’d all be experiencing a serious case of deja vu if we’d been following the development of the automotive industry since its inception.
At the turn of the 20th century, electric cars were commonly used as private vehicles and taxi cabs in major cities around the world. They were generally easier to start and operate than comparable gasoline- or steam-powered models, a trait that earned them a reputation as “women’s cars.” But ease of use wasn’t enough to keep them relevant.
The technology was still in its infancy at the time, so early EVs were notoriously impractical. It wasn’t uncommon for battery-powered cars to register a top speed in the vicinity of 30 km/h while providing only about 50 kilometres of range. To make matters worse, users complained they spent more time charging than driving. These primitive EVs quickly lost ground to gasoline-powered models during the 1910s and the 1920s, especially affordable ones such as Ford’s Model T, and development largely stopped until the 1960s.
The electric car is making a comeback as a zippy, practical, connected, and clean form of transportation. From an early Porsche design to the newest Nissan Leaf, here are some of the cars that have left their mark on the history of the EV.
1. Lohner-Porsche (1900)
In 1898, Austrian coach builder Ludwig Lohner observed the air “was being mercilessly ruined by the petrol engines that now occur in such large numbers.” He decided to build an electric car, and he enlisted a young engineer named Ferdinand Porsche to help design it.
The Lohner-Porsche suffered from lacklustre performance; it could drive for about 50 km when travelling at a steady 35 km/h. The hybrid variant offered more speed and more range, but it never sold well because it was considerably more expensive than normal gasoline-powered models.
2. Henney Kilowatt (1959)
National Union Electric Company teamed up with Henney Motor Company to relaunch the electric car in the late 1950s. The two partners quickly realized designing a car from the ground up was far too costly, so they decided to use the Renault Dauphine as a donor vehicle. It was cheap and it was readily available in North America.
Early versions of the Kilowatt used a 36-volt electric system that provided about 65 km of range and a top speed of roughly 65 km/h. These stats limited the car’s use to the city. In 1960 an upgraded 72-volt system boosted both range and top speed to 97 km. It was too little, too late, and Henney failed to find an audience for the car.
3. Chevrolet Electrovair (1964)
In 1964, General Motors stuffed an experimental electric powertrain in the unassuming body of a four-door Corvair. The car moved under its own power, but test drivers complained of shortcomings that made it unviable for mass production. Notably, engineers had to weld the rear doors shut to increase structural rigidity.
GM followed up with a second prototype named Electrovair II in 1966. The ’Vair’s flat-six was replaced by an AC induction motor that drew electricity from a 532volt silver-zinc battery pack.
Chevrolet’s records note range was the Electrovair II’s biggest downside. It could drive for only 130 km on a single charge, and engineers noticed the battery pack wore out after roughly 100 charging cycles. The Electrovair II was a rolling display of technology and was never seriously considered for mass production.
4. Lunar Roving Vehicle (1971)
The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) looks like it’s based on a Volkswagen Beetle chassis, but there’s no flat-four out back. It’s a purpose-designed car powered by in-wheel electric motors.
The LRV helped astronauts on Apollo missions 15 to 17 explore the Moon and collect valuable samples. Three of the four LRVs built are still parked on the surface of the Moon. The program was cancelled before the fourth LRV made its maiden trip to space.
5. BMW 1602 Electric (1972)
Bosch helped BMW turn the 1602 into an electric car in time for the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. The four-cylinder engine was replaced by a drum-shaped electric motor linked to the rear axle via a standard driveshaft. Interestingly, electricity was stored in a dozen 12-volt batteries mounted on a pallet in the engine bay. They took ages to recharge, but the entire unit could be swapped out in minutes using a fork lift.
The weight added by the 350-kg battery pack had a devastating effect on performance. The electric 1602 took eight seconds to reach 50 km/h from a dead stop, and it had a top speed of just 100 km/h. Worse yet, it had a range of only 30 km in dense city traffic.
BMW built two electric 1602 prototypes that it showcased during the Olympics.
6. Mercedes-Benz LE 306 (1972)
Mercedes-Benz had a similar project with a different starting point. The brand saw a market for an electric delivery van that could roam crowded city centres without emitting CO2. The LE 306’s 22-kWh battery pack provided up to 100 km of range at up to 80 km/h. The pack was mounted on rails so it could easily be swapped out. “At the charging station, the discharged battery is pulled out from the side, while a new one is simultaneously slid in from the other side. It all takes no longer than a normal fuel stop,” Mercedes explained.
Like BMW’s 1602, the LE 3 06 was shown to the public for the first time during the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. It never reached mass production, but Mercedes manufactured 58 examples for a pilot program to gather data on zero-emissions powertrains.
7. Jeep DJ-5E (1978)
Concerned with oil embargoes and rising fuel prices, the United States Postal Service (USPS) quietly experimented with electric vehicles during the 1970s. It notably tested a fleet of about 30 Britishbuilt Harbilt trucks in Cupertino, Calif.
USPS ordered 350 electric Jeep delivery trucks from American Motors Corporation in 1974, according to its archives department. The model was based on the DJ-5, which was widely used as a mail delivery vehicle in the United States at the time, and nicknamed Electruck. Period reports indicate it had a top speed of 53 km/h, and a 47-km range when the 300-plus stops it made daily were factored in. It was so underpowered that drivers were advised to avoid hills when possible, and cold climates made things noticeably worse.
Cost was the final nail in the DJ5E’s coffin. The USPS calculated the trucks were 50 per cent more expensive than a comparable gasoline-powered DJ-5 and put an end to the project in 1983.
8. General Motors EV1 (1996)
The EV1’s Saturn-esque design hid one of the most innovative powertrains designed in the 1990s. Its electric motor generated 137 horsepower and 110 pound-feet of instant torque from a 16.5-kWh battery pack. The original EV1 offered about 97 km of range, though later cars with a Panasonic battery pack boosted range to 161 km.
The EV1 was offered only through a lease program in a handful of American cities, including Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Tucson. The company’s decision to stop the EV1 project spurred more conspiracy theories than John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Some even claimed oil companies paid GM to cancel the project. Most of the 1,100 examples built in Lansing, Mich., were crushed.
9. Tesla Roadster (2006)
In 2006, a little-known startup named Tesla Motors introduced a Lotus Elise-based convertible in Santa Monica, Calif. Named simply Roadster, the model promised exhilarating acceleration, zero tailpipe emissions, and usable range. It was an ambitious project, especially from a three-year-old company no one had ever heard of before.
Buyers were willing to take a gamble on Tesla. The first batch of 100 cars sold out in less than a month in spite of a six-figure price tag. Production was delayed several times, but most Roadster owners became lifelong Tesla addicts. The Model S, the Model X, and the Model 3 are all build on the foundations laid by the original Roadster.
10. Nissan Leaf (2010)
The original Nissan Leaf was an honest, well-thought-out attempt at bringing electric mobility to the masses. It didn’t start life with an internal combustion engine, and it was never offered with one. It doesn’t qualify for the coveted “long-range” label, but it had practicality and relative affordability. Nissan upgraded the Leaf’s powertrain several times, and it’s preparing for the launch of the brandnew second-generation model.