OK, that was a bit of a tease. But this was way too funny! Thought you electric car fans would enjoy.

I was moving my 89 year-old grandma out of her house today, and came across some old magazines. One caught my eye - February 1971 Popular Science. It features a "New Breakthrough Electric Car" - the Voltair. Top speed 107 mph, range 300-500 miles, recharges in 20 minutes. The heart of the car is the Tri-Polar lead-cobalt battery (they last 50K miles, and cost only $700!).

The cover is here. I scanned in the entire article, but I'm afraid the upload to the site didn't retain the text very well so it's difficult to read. The links to the other 3 pages are below. If anyone is really interested, send me a private message with your e-mail and I'll send the scans you want. They are ~3M each, but you can read them if you zoom.

I'll transcribe the last few paragraphs here - they are hilarious! Remember this is 1971....

"When can you buy a Voltair? Soon. Aronson plans to make 300 EFP Electrics by June; they'll sell for $10,000. The Voltair will come after that.

By producing 5,000 a year, the cost would be $6,850. In annual lots of 20,000 the figure might be as low as $4,000. Accorging to EFP sales manager Jack L. Hunter, full-scale production would reduce the price to below that of present gasoline autos.

The early EFP Electrics are being sold to utility companies and government agencies interested in evaulating pollution-free transportation. (EFP No. 1 was bought by Arthur Godfrey.) Negotiations are also in progress with a car leasing firm. Fleet-vehicle operators get the next opportunity to buy all-electrics, and finally they'll go to the public.

Aronson soon hopes to see plug-in parking meters that permit any electic vehicle to utilize its slow-charger; or, better yet, multiple fast-charging units in garages, shopping centers, and motels. Courtesy charge points have been set up in 76 such locations from coast to coast."

Really, I can't type much more I'm laughing so hard.....

Where can I get me some of that!!!!

Here the rest....

http://www.greenhybrid.com/share/fil...ectriccar1.JPG
http://www.greenhybrid.com/share/fil...ectriccar2.JPG
http://www.greenhybrid.com/share/fil...ectriccar3.JPG
http://www.greenhybrid.com/share/fil...ectriccar4.JPG

*** Retired after 65,000 outstanding miles ***

Hi Tim

___You forgot the part about the Government conspiracy that erased him from existence as all “innovations type guys” always disappear

___Thanks for the scans!

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes

One part of the article mentions a previous model that apparently actually was produced, and the statistics they cite for it sound more realistic for electrics:

0-40 mph in 10 seconds
at 55-60 mph, a range of 125 miles
sustained top speed 70 mph
battery 60% recharged in 30 minutes

They said it was the "EFP Electric".

Wow, interesting. Makes you wonder (paranoia and cover-ups aside) what happened. If we have electric cars in '71, why by 2000 we'll have flying electric cars!

First 4WD Hypermiler

Have you read the FEH FAQ?

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Read My Automotive Blog at Rich Rambles

electricauto.com seems to still be in business, using Pb-cobalt batteries licensed from the original firm that made the voltair and other electric cars.

R2-E2, 2G Prius.
Highway/City/Husband/Wife MPG: 56.5, as of 12/2005, 26K miles

Jac Nasser, Ford President: "We are planning to launch a hybrid version of
this car [P2000] within this year [1998]. We will also make FCEV available in
2004."