Almost 50 years ago - the General Motors Electrovair II
In 1966, General Motors presented the Electrovair II study, which was basically a Corvair with an alternating current electric motor in the rear and silver-zinc batteries in the front and rear "trunk".
The driving performance was comparable to that of the petrol-powered Pendent (0 to 96 km/h in 16 seconds), but the weight of the electric version was significantly higher at 1,540 kg instead of 1,180 kg. At the same time, the range dropped from 400-480 km to 65-130 km per "refueling".
At the time, the silver-zinc batteries had four times the energy density of a lead-acid battery, otherwise the figures would have been much less favorable.
It is astonishing that the performance values are quite comparable to those achieved by the major manufacturers today, almost 50 years later. And even then, the same advantages of the electric drive were mentioned as today: high torque from standstill, very smooth running and the absence of exhaust fumes.
There were reports on the Electrovair II in AR 47/1966and 48/1966, which can of course be found in the Zwischengas archive. The pictures are of course in the Zwischengas archive.
