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Beth Langer, Northfield High School class of ‘07,
is the proud owner of this rare 1981 Jet Electrica. Another Jet owner, Dave Anderson (no relation to yours truly) of Corvallis, Oregon, writes of his similar car “Th[e] Jet Electrica was originally manufactured by Jet Industries of Austin, TX, which produced about 3,000 EV conversions while they were in business. Most Jets were based on Ford Escort and Mercury Lynx chassis purchased new as from FoMoCo as “gliders” (body and chassis without engines). To convert the Escort to electric, Jet mated a Prestolite 96v traction motor to the original Ford transaxle, fabricated battery boxes front and rear, and added a speed controller and an on-board battery charger.” Beth has been driving her Electrica, which was re-manufactured from a Mercury Lynx body and chassis, since the last day of school this spring. She and her father Linus purchased it with 13,900 miles on the odometer from a battery dealer in St. Paul, who had garaged the vehicle for the past 15 years. She’s using it daily this summer to commute the eight miles (one-way) from her family’s home to work in Northfield. She reports the range is about 35 to 40 miles (she tested the limit once and ran out of juice!) when the rig’s 16 65-pound batteries (front and rear) are fully charged. Beth says that, while acceleration is not great, she can keep up with traffic on Highway 19.

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