Who revived the electric car?
(Odometer: 1,800 miles)
ST. LOUIS–The Citicar is the most popular American electric car you’ve never heard of.
From 1974-77, Florida-based Sebring-Vanguard, Inc., produced about 2,700 of these cute little two-seaters. The Citicar and variants that followed were the most popular all-electric cars in the U.S. until the Leaf and the Volt came along.
Kyle Feller's Citicar at Schlafly's in St. Louis at a special meeting of the Gateway EV Club and our Chevy Volt
Like today’s EVs, the Citicar grew out of an energy crisis: the oil embargo of the mid-1970s. If you’re old enough to remember that, you recall long lines at the gas pump and gas rationing. It was no fun.
The boxy Citicar was based on the Club Cart golf car design.
Designed by Robert Beaumont, the car’s specs included:
+GE Series DC motor; 2.5 HP (early), 3.5 HP, or 6 HP (late)
+6 X 6v or 8 X 6v lead-acid battery
+ Frame: welded aluminum tube and ABS plastic bodies
+Length: 95.9 in.
+Width: 55.0 in.
+Height: 60.0 in.
+Curb weight: 1,303 lbs.
In the 1980s, inflation and the oil crisis faded from the public’s frontal lobes and innovations like the Citicar gradually got pushed into garages and barns across the country.
That’s where Kyle Feller, a high-school senior from Missouri found his.
What’s reviving the electric car is economic circumstance and the passion of people like Feller, who, at very young ages are, well, electrified by the prospect for a different mode of transportation and a cool technological innovation.
Here’s his story:
I was there at the meeting and got to drive the Volt. Great job on the video and editing, keep the message going. Electric is a great alternative to gasoline.