@@BigCar2 yeah that's what's blown my mind. This quality of content and research immediately off the bat. Have you done professional television production before? This channel will (hopefully) be huge! I started off watching the videos that interested me and soon realised I watched the whole lot because I enjoy your presenting style so much. Cheers!
I've got a Sinclair C5 - Living at the top of a steep hill, I've had to upgrade it with a modern front hub motor and lithium battery. Now it's a fantastic way to get to work. I know several people in the C5 world using the original on a daily basis so it's really proven it's engineered to last. It was a failure compared to the dream Sir Clive had for it, but was the best selling electric vehicle ever made until the Nissan Leaf took the crown in 2011. Let me know if you are ever in Bristol and want a go!
Around 20 years ago a 'Cityel' drove past me while walking through Vevey. It struck me at the time that this was the future as it silently glided by. It made conventional cars seem like overweight dinosaurs. Since then I have never stopped ranting about SUVs.:))
Weight is actually the smaller problem, bigger problem is air resistance. In electric cars though there will be weight, the bigger batteries (range) you want, the more. I think the future is that people who like to drive will have more cars, so that cars are suited for the purpose. You can have small car with small batteries for short distances like commuting. And you can have a bigger and better cars for long distances. That way you are most of the time driving efficiently. Also, remote working will be more common, so that the need to commute will reduce.
@ThePatUltra The problem with the batteries has so far been their price. Even having one Tesla worth of batteries is very difficult to make the car cheap enough. If you double the amount of battery capacity, you are quite soon looking at well over 100k $€ vehicle that has less range than double the range of a Tesla. The price will go down though until a certain point, that is that the availability of battery materials is going to be a problem if the production is to be scaled with current chemistries. In the other hand there may be coming new promising battery types quite soon, like the solid state battery that at least Toyota is working on.
@@Stefan_Dahn Here in Finland, average people drive with ~6,000 € cars. 😂😅 The average car age here is 12 years. Which means, some people are driving 20 years old cars. So, yeah . . . We will see how many Tesla's will be on the road at the age of 20 and how can you maintain them at that point.
@@wopmf4345FxFDxdGaa20people can’t afford to buy two separate vehicles for different types of driving. Buying one EV is out of the price range of 80% of the people who drive now. The push to go 100% EV shouldn’t be happening for another 15-20 years when hopefully the Ted will be less expensive and the range and charging time will be closer to that of an ICE vehicle. Also, there needs to be a massive increase in the power grid and a cleaner source of energy, if not, you are doing nothing to reduce pollution. But since the whole global warming myth is about money, it doesn’t matter to the left.
I own a City-el, I have fitted it with a mix of lead acid and lifepo-4 cells. top speed is 40 mph and it has a range around 40 miles. The car was built in 1999.
The EV1 was one of the first quick EVs and had a faster zero to sixty than many gasoline cars such as the V6 Camry of the same era.. Though the drive train is a direct ancestor to what appeared in the Tesla Roadster.
Patchuchan that’s because Elon was mad at GM for what they did with the EV1. He said himself that Tesla was started because of the EV1 story and what GM did
@@princesssolace4337I wouldn't laugh too much at a Toyota V6 in a fairly light car The V6 Camry SE of that era could do zero to 60 in 7 seconds which was very respectable beating many so called sporty cars.
@@Patchuchan the range of the car is much more important to most car buyers the EV 1 seems irrelevant to me now after seeing the Amitron of 67 and knowing it went 150 miles per charge that's a longer range than the EV 1 they were still looking for a viable electric car in the 80's why? we had already found it
@@robinsss It used some very cutting edge for the time lithium-nickel-fluoride batteries but they were too expensive to produce and to get the price down a battery company would have to make a lot of them but they're not going to make a lot of them unless they have a big order. Ended up being laptop computers of all things that drove the need for mass produced lithium batteries in the 1990s.
I owned a City-EL in1992- 1998 and it had an updated 48V system instead of the original 36V, a range of 130 km on lead acid batteries. I later changed the motor for a LEM-200 22kW motor, so top speed was 96 km/h and 0-60 in 4.5 seconds. Quite the monster. With a similar weight of Li-ion batteries 128 kg, it should be able to go 500 km, so when the current specs from Citycom today only specs 120 km range, the are going cheap on the batteries and use to few of them to reduce cost.
YegoLoda they never did make any, not even a real project.... all these cars did have the same design, small wheels make them all the same for you, FIAT did the same.... why hahaha?
I think we knew about global warming long before the 1980's. It was called the Greenhouse Effect and was known about at least as far back as the 1970's. The film Soylent Green from 1973 was based on a book from 1966 and was (among other things) all about the 'Greenhouse Effect' AKA Global Warming and it's effect on the planet. Just saying :-)
Another electric car from the 70s not mentioned in the video or the previous one is the Electric Fuel Propulsion Company (EFP) Electrosport, otherwise known as the Electric-sport. It was a compact-sized electric vehicle using AMC Hornets that were converted to EVs in Ferndale Michigan. It was produced from 1971 to 1974.
elon is yet to create anything. so far he just picks vague concepts that were floating around for decades, patents them and then hires so college kids to develop them for chump change.
We talk about having "range anxiety" nowadays even with thousands of EV DC fast charging stations around. Imagine what it must have been like to be an early adopter back then with NO way to fast charge even if that technology even existed at the time _AND_ also having very small ranges in the first place. I have to hand it to them! I also need to give credit where credit's due and say that although it has taken the legacy automakers a long time to catch up to Tesla, they at least DID try several times over the decades to make it work but the costs and technologies involved were just insurmountable at the time.
In 1974 the Brazilian automobile manufacturer Gurgel Motores showed the prototype Itaipu E-150, a 2 places 100% eletric car. In 80's the Gurgel Motors produced in line the E500, a van/pickup for small urban deliveries. Links: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurgel_Itaipu en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurgel_E500
The cityel or "Ellert" in Danish was also made in a 2 seater version and a faster model was made too that could go 70km/h and was infact approved for highway use.
I have a Sinclair C5 - first vehicle I ever bought (and first thing I bought on ebay). You say 'no market research was done' - I do not believe this is true. When I first got my C5 someone on a now defunct forum who used to work for Sinclair said he did commission research, however, it told them what Sir Clive didn't want to hear, and so he ordered it to be locked away or destroyed (I forget which). The research said that the most likely people to buy them were old people, likely those who couldn't drive but just needed to pop to the shops. But they aimed it as something cool for young people - but a 14 year old didn't have £400 to buy one, and a 16yr old would be buying a moped, because its faster (and probably cooler).
Great video. Have you considered mentioning the Better Place project with DONG Energy (yes, it was the name of the biggest danish energy supplier based basically on windmills). Together the made the project involving Renault and the very visionary concept of replaceable batteries as an alternative to gasoline stations.
Big Car I used to work in DONG Energy at that time, but I wasn’t much involved in the project, but saw the car and videos of the concept. I will write if I find some materials about it. I know that DONG Energy actually had already started investing in the needed infrastructure to support the charging stations
The u36 which became the Miniel was designed and built while the c5 was also being designed and took no "cue's" from the c5 at all, the body shell was designed by a Scottish designer called Ray Innes working in the sw of Scotland, the idea for the vehicle came from a Dane called Steen Jensan , they had been working on it from around 1980, we made the body in 1982 it was the first time Ray and I worked together, the U36 was displayed in a bank in Randers Denmark for a while, when the ill fated C5 was announced the U36 was dusted of and by public subscription in Denmark a factory was built and production started, they enjoyed moderate sales success but the electronics were a source of problems, by the time that had been sorted out the factory had run into cash flow problems and the Miniel was sold to Germany. The concept was for a fully enclosed vehicle with the same or less frontal area as someone on a moped or scooter, which it was to replace, it was never seen as a car replacement, the project was first mooted by Steen when he worked for the Danish company Dronnjngborg who made combine harvesters, the combine market was in a down turn and they were looking for other products to fill the factory, Steen who was working there as a designer contacted Ray with whom he had worked for at Rover Triumph, with the upturn in combine sales Dronniingborg lost interest and shelved the project, when Steen left not long after he was aloud to take the project with him, the rest they say is history.
Despite their shortcomings then and now these cars with their limited tech would have been more than enough for most people just like with city cars today. I drive a Smart Fortwo in one of the coldest cities on Earth and its a really popular car here because most people here don't like or want flashy cars, just practical ones... 50 mpg and a $20 CAD full tank will do that! I just wish they had released the E-dition here earlier as I could only buy a diesel one that got that mileage...
In the eighties, I drove a Larel, a Fiat Panda reduced to a two-seater with 600 kg of lead-acid batteries in the back and a clutch with a four speed gear box.
I’m disappointed there was not mention of US Electricar Corp and their Renault 5 conversions-marketed as Lectric Leopard, I believe several hundred were sold-and my brother still drives one today.
That C5 trike actually looks pretty cool to be honest. If they sold a remake of it with Li-Po batteries, a windshield, and an extra front wheel for around $1,000 I’d totally be down for buying one. :)
Look at me with a straight face and say the car at 4:11 doesn't look exactly like the car Jeremy James and Richard built on top gear 😂 damn check out those rims though 😮
You missed the funniest part about the Electrec, it has a 4 Speed MANUAL Transmission that’s impossible to shift. Aging Wheels has done a great video on the electrec.
Thank-you for these two videos.Can you please add more electric car videos to the playlist? The EV 'revolution' is gaining pace rapidly, with Norway selling more EV's than fossil-fuelled cars. Thanks.
@@BigCar2Aww. Such a boring car. The 850 was the car that saved Volvo but ultimately killed it, and is a much much more interesting story. The biggest engineering project in Swedish history, the BTCC etc. Ah go on.
I'm a huge aviation fan and especially Grumman...Glad to see you mention the Grumman LLV postal truck..it's a go to for me when I want to stump someone with obscure triva ( that and the Lunar Lander)
I'm sure fiat heavily took their design ideas for the panda from that Volvo. It was designed only a few years after and it's uncanny how similar it is. There were even 2 electric options for the panda.
You missed a very crucial GM electric vehicle... It was based on a current production petrol or diesel version and it was Built in Britain too But it wasn't a Vauxhall... The Bedford CF Electric van.. exempt from tax it would have been popular except it was twice the price or a standard CF and only a real range of 40 miles
I'm glad you enjoy the videos! Sorry, no 90's electric car video is planned as they weren't very popular 😢, but that doesn't mean I might in the future. But many more cool videos planned!
A KID AT MY SCHOOL HAD A SINCLAIR C5 WHICH HE HAD WON IN A COMPETITION.HE USED TO DRIVE IT AROUND THE PLAYGROUND.I THINK THE MOTOR WAS MADE BY HOOVER.THERE WAS ALSO A SINCLAIR ZIKE WHICH WAS AN ELECTRIC BIKE.
Another great video! I'm hoping for a video about the Orginal Mini through to the lastest Mini. There's a lot fof informative videos about the orginal Mini online but im sure you'll make something with new information in!
Yes, but that's been covered by so many people in the past that most people have heard the story already. I find it more interesting to find stories I didn't know before.
@@BigCar2 There's got to be loads of unheard or less popular information out there about the car! But nevertheless, any video you put out is very interesting! :)
Thanks, an interesting history. I now drive a PHEV, and my particular driving routine averages about 90mpg including converting the charging costs into fuel equivalent. These pioneers got us this far, but all failed. I test drove a Tesla model 3 last week, and WOW, what a machine, hope Elon survives. The model 3 was just too small for me. Keep up the good work, your videos are very informative.
@@joeyknight8272 Plug In Hybrid Vehicle, it has a battery good for 30 miles, then an engine as well, great if you do 30-40 miles a day. The engine only fires up when the battery is exhausted.
Elon said he started Tesla because of what GM did with the EV1. GM needs to go bankrupt for good, with no government help this time. Its thanks to their executives that EVs were set back 20 years. Thankfully Tesla is here for good, and now Porsche is launching the Taycan. The EV is no longer dead
Sinclair was completely right in hindsight. But the world wasn't ready then. It would have been ideal for developing countries but those developing countries were still third world countries when he had the idea and they would very quickly make their own electric cars to satisfy demand.
Great job most enjoyable ,how about the real true hot hatch the fiat strada 105 .and 130 tc.not only built before the mk1 golf at 85 bhp .it was almost twice as powerful .
I knew about the lada but not much about it. I didn't know about the Czechoslovak car though. Wasn't there another electric VAZ based on something called the lada Oka that did about 20mph?
Petrol car: How fast does it go?
Electric car: How far does it go?
Jaunty Angle guess you live under a rock and haven’t seen the Porsche Taycan or the model s/x 100D, model 3 dual motor...
@@goclunker No, I haven't. Are they electric? If so, how fast do they recharge?
Jaunty Angle are you kidding me? The Taycan is running an 800v charger. 5 min to 80%
@@goclunker Not bad if you can find a charge point. How much is it?
@@jauntyangle5667 here you can see how many charging stations are in your country and plan your route abetterrouteplanner.com/
It seriously surprises me you don't have more sub's/views. All your videos are so interesting.
It's early days. This channel only got started 2 months ago.
@@BigCar2 yeah that's what's blown my mind. This quality of content and research immediately off the bat. Have you done professional television production before? This channel will (hopefully) be huge! I started off watching the videos that interested me and soon realised I watched the whole lot because I enjoy your presenting style so much. Cheers!
@@cromulence Far from television level production.
@@tomtalk24 also, nothing an AI couldnt churn out 50000 versions of in 13 seconds
A+ for content and ideas but F for everything else.
I've got a Sinclair C5 - Living at the top of a steep hill, I've had to upgrade it with a modern front hub motor and lithium battery. Now it's a fantastic way to get to work. I know several people in the C5 world using the original on a daily basis so it's really proven it's engineered to last.
It was a failure compared to the dream Sir Clive had for it, but was the best selling electric vehicle ever made until the Nissan Leaf took the crown in 2011.
Let me know if you are ever in Bristol and want a go!
got a 500w 48v hub on mine and a 42Ah battery. it pulls clean uphill now. never have to pedal. now i dream of a cityel
Around 20 years ago a 'Cityel' drove past me while walking through Vevey. It struck me at the time that this was the future as it silently glided by. It made conventional cars seem like overweight dinosaurs. Since then I have never stopped ranting about SUVs.:))
Weight is actually the smaller problem, bigger problem is air resistance. In electric cars though there will be weight, the bigger batteries (range) you want, the more. I think the future is that people who like to drive will have more cars, so that cars are suited for the purpose. You can have small car with small batteries for short distances like commuting. And you can have a bigger and better cars for long distances. That way you are most of the time driving efficiently. Also, remote working will be more common, so that the need to commute will reduce.
@ThePatUltra The problem with the batteries has so far been their price. Even having one Tesla worth of batteries is very difficult to make the car cheap enough. If you double the amount of battery capacity, you are quite soon looking at well over 100k $€ vehicle that has less range than double the range of a Tesla. The price will go down though until a certain point, that is that the availability of battery materials is going to be a problem if the production is to be scaled with current chemistries. In the other hand there may be coming new promising battery types quite soon, like the solid state battery that at least Toyota is working on.
@@wopmf4345FxFDxdGaa20 January 2021: Tesla lowered the price of the Model Y RWD (60 kWh LFP) to ~45,000 €.
@@Stefan_Dahn Here in Finland, average people drive with ~6,000 € cars. 😂😅 The average car age here is 12 years. Which means, some people are driving 20 years old cars. So, yeah . . . We will see how many Tesla's will be on the road at the age of 20 and how can you maintain them at that point.
@@wopmf4345FxFDxdGaa20people can’t afford to buy two separate vehicles for different types of driving. Buying one EV is out of the price range of 80% of the people who drive now. The push to go 100% EV shouldn’t be happening for another 15-20 years when hopefully the Ted will be less expensive and the range and charging time will be closer to that of an ICE vehicle. Also, there needs to be a massive increase in the power grid and a cleaner source of energy, if not, you are doing nothing to reduce pollution. But since the whole global warming myth is about money, it doesn’t matter to the left.
I own a City-el, I have fitted it with a mix of lead acid and lifepo-4 cells. top speed is 40 mph and it has a range around 40 miles.
The car was built in 1999.
The EV1 was one of the first quick EVs and had a faster zero to sixty than many gasoline cars such as the V6 Camry of the same era..
Though the drive train is a direct ancestor to what appeared in the Tesla Roadster.
Patchuchan that’s because Elon was mad at GM for what they did with the EV1. He said himself that Tesla was started because of the EV1 story and what GM did
A V6 Toyota?🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@princesssolace4337I wouldn't laugh too much at a Toyota V6 in a fairly light car
The V6 Camry SE of that era could do zero to 60 in 7 seconds which was very respectable beating many so called sporty cars.
@@Patchuchan the range of the car is much more important to most car buyers
the EV 1 seems irrelevant to me now after seeing the Amitron of 67 and knowing it went 150 miles per charge
that's a longer range than the EV 1
they were still looking for a viable electric car in the 80's
why?
we had already found it
@@robinsss It used some very cutting edge for the time lithium-nickel-fluoride batteries but they were too expensive to produce and to get the price down a battery company would have to make a lot of them but they're not going to make a lot of them unless they have a big order.
Ended up being laptop computers of all things that drove the need for mass produced lithium batteries in the 1990s.
All these experimental cars sure make me appreciate my 1st gen Nissan Leaf so much.
Always a good day when there’s a new Big Car video out ☺️
Hello from Denmark. I remember the HOPE presentation. Hehehehe! They sold a few to the danish postal service.
Another nice informative video, well done, more please.
PEOPLE!!!
LET'S ALL SHARE HIS VIDEOS, HE TRULY DESERVE MORE SUBS!!!!
Sinclair is Britain’s Steve Jobs, he was a genius, but he should have used it as the first electric mobility scooter.
I owned a City-EL in1992- 1998 and it had an updated 48V system instead of the original 36V, a range of 130 km on lead acid batteries. I later changed the motor for a LEM-200 22kW motor, so top speed was 96 km/h and 0-60 in 4.5 seconds. Quite the monster. With a similar weight of Li-ion batteries 128 kg, it should be able to go 500 km, so when the current specs from Citycom today only specs 120 km range, the are going cheap on the batteries and use to few of them to reduce cost.
sounds like a dream i need one
The Volvo Electric Car looks like a 70s Peugeot 1007 haha.
Got a 1007 and it is fun car, coming from a C5 V6.
Design-wise, the Peugeot 1007 is to the Volvo EC as the Model Y is to the CyberTruck.
YegoLoda
they never did make any, not even a real project....
all these cars did have the same design, small wheels make them all the same for you, FIAT did the same....
why hahaha?
I think we knew about global warming long before the 1980's. It was called the Greenhouse Effect and was known about at least as far back as the 1970's. The film Soylent Green from 1973 was based on a book from 1966 and was (among other things) all about the 'Greenhouse Effect' AKA Global Warming and it's effect on the planet. Just saying :-)
Pauline Hunter soylent green is people!
Here's an article from over a century ago that talks of global warming: pbs.twimg.com/media/C36fxHnUMAAavvs.jpg
In the 70’s it was global cooling. I remember seeing tv shows that suggested we’d put coal dust on the poles to melt the snow.
They also said the oceans would be dead by 1980.
You are mistaken. In the 1970s many environmentalists were worried about global *cooling*
You're like Scott Manley's car loving brother.
Brilliant!
I just stumbled across your channel. Great stuff! Sub'd and now to binge watch your stuff.
Same
The Sinclair C5 was for kids and 19,000 were sold. The last one was made in Japan in 1986 and was solar powered. She was named the Sanyo Amorton Car.
The channel called garage 54
This channel is the best of all on youtube
Lol
I just watched the one where they took the Lada engine and changed the firing order. Genius Clowns!
Why do companies over design electric cars and end up looking twxty
Areodynamics
I dunno, some of these 80s cars looked really sleek. Wouldn't mind having those instead of these horribly ugly Teslas.
@@GlamStacheessnostalgialounge Tesla makes some of the most beautyful cars out there
@@Rafael47936 Um? Have you ever seen one of those hideous things?
@@GlamStacheessnostalgialounge nope, I've only seen the good looking ones
Looking forward to that EV-1 video.
Another electric car from the 70s not mentioned in the video or the previous one is the Electric Fuel Propulsion Company (EFP) Electrosport, otherwise known as the Electric-sport. It was a compact-sized electric vehicle using AMC Hornets that were converted to EVs in Ferndale Michigan. It was produced from 1971 to 1974.
and Some people think elon musk created all these technologies
Elon creates all! Lol
@@Network126 he invented the subway
elon is yet to create anything. so far he just picks vague concepts that were floating around for decades, patents them and then hires so college kids to develop them for chump change.
@@punker4Real and a sandwich
Elon is more like Edison
Good God , i remember the C5 . I was and still am a huge fan of Sir Clive. All your videos are top notch !!
Thanks James - me too! I had a Sinclair TV. Very cool.
@@BigCar2 excellent! Although His inventions didn't always work well , he had and still has a "volcanic" mind. I still have my Speccy 48K 😊
4:12 That looks like the electric car that the original Top Gear trio built.
Yes, thought exactly the same! :D The "Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust": ruclips.net/video/WfNfwNWWphI/видео.html
Original trio? Top Gear started in the 70's chap.
You man the 2000s trio, not the original lot. I don't think any of the earlier groups built anything.
Watt another shockingly inductive video about E-Cars i'd never even heard of....Truly amazing research...Get in...:)
Electrifying witt :-)
We talk about having "range anxiety" nowadays even with thousands of EV DC fast charging stations around. Imagine what it must have been like to be an early adopter back then with NO way to fast charge even if that technology even existed at the time _AND_ also having very small ranges in the first place. I have to hand it to them! I also need to give credit where credit's due and say that although it has taken the legacy automakers a long time to catch up to Tesla, they at least DID try several times over the decades to make it work but the costs and technologies involved were just insurmountable at the time.
Honestly I do have a life. It’s just a coincidence that I’m here at this time. Interesting and well presented. Thanks from Dorian’s path.
Very well researched pair of videos. Thanks so much!
Pleasantly surprised that you brought up the Audi Duo. Well done!
You should create a graph plotting the cars range/speed and how the evs improved over time
That would be interesting (at least to me)!
Thank you for all your hard work these videos are excellent hats off to you sir
Sir Clive still tinkering to these days? that is some dedication right there.
I think the Sinclair C10 and C15 make more sense than the C5.
I didn’t know I was so into cars... until I started watching these vids. So interesting!
I'm not that into cars, but I like history, and cars, sort of...
Big Car I think I’m with you. I like modern product history generally to be honest.
In 1974 the Brazilian automobile manufacturer Gurgel Motores showed the prototype Itaipu E-150, a 2 places 100% eletric car. In 80's the Gurgel Motors produced in line the E500, a van/pickup for small urban deliveries. Links:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurgel_Itaipu
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurgel_E500
The cityel or "Ellert" in Danish was also made in a 2 seater version and a faster model was made too that could go 70km/h and was infact approved for highway use.
I think all of your videos are outstanding. Plus, you're a dead ringer for Brian Eno!
I have a Sinclair C5 - first vehicle I ever bought (and first thing I bought on ebay). You say 'no market research was done' - I do not believe this is true. When I first got my C5 someone on a now defunct forum who used to work for Sinclair said he did commission research, however, it told them what Sir Clive didn't want to hear, and so he ordered it to be locked away or destroyed (I forget which). The research said that the most likely people to buy them were old people, likely those who couldn't drive but just needed to pop to the shops. But they aimed it as something cool for young people - but a 14 year old didn't have £400 to buy one, and a 16yr old would be buying a moped, because its faster (and probably cooler).
We need to bring the Sinclair C5 back into production. Bring her back!😭.
Great video. Have you considered mentioning the Better Place project with DONG Energy (yes, it was the name of the biggest danish energy supplier based basically on windmills). Together the made the project involving Renault and the very visionary concept of replaceable batteries as an alternative to gasoline stations.
I wasn't aware of that. Do you have a link to more information?
Big Car actually it is quite well described on Wikipedia with lots of links: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Place_(company)
Big Car I used to work in DONG Energy at that time, but I wasn’t much involved in the project, but saw the car and videos of the concept. I will write if I find some materials about it.
I know that DONG Energy actually had already started investing in the needed infrastructure to support the charging stations
4:46 so love this van coz it is so cutesy funny!
Excellent work from your fans in Canada. :)
I've got more than one! Cool!
The u36 which became the Miniel was designed and built while the c5 was also being designed and took no "cue's" from the c5 at all, the body shell was designed by a Scottish designer called Ray Innes working in the sw of Scotland, the idea for the vehicle came from a Dane called Steen Jensan , they had been working on it from around 1980, we made the body in 1982 it was the first time Ray and I worked together, the U36 was displayed in a bank in Randers Denmark for a while, when the ill fated C5 was announced the U36 was dusted of and by public subscription in Denmark a factory was built and production started, they enjoyed moderate sales success but the electronics were a source of problems, by the time that had been sorted out the factory had run into cash flow problems and the Miniel was sold to Germany. The concept was for a fully enclosed vehicle with the same or less frontal area as someone on a moped or scooter, which it was to replace, it was never seen as a car replacement, the project was first mooted by Steen when he worked for the Danish company Dronnjngborg who made combine harvesters, the combine market was in a down turn and they were looking for other products to fill the factory, Steen who was working there as a designer contacted Ray with whom he had worked for at Rover Triumph, with the upturn in combine sales Dronniingborg lost interest and shelved the project, when Steen left not long after he was aloud to take the project with him, the rest they say is history.
Always fun learning those postal trucks came from a military contractor and are old as dirt lol
Yeah, I can't look at one now and think about that.
This is fascinating l had no idea about these vehicles other than the c5.
Despite their shortcomings then and now these cars with their limited tech would have been more than enough for most people just like with city cars today.
I drive a Smart Fortwo in one of the coldest cities on Earth and its a really popular car here because most people here don't like or want flashy cars, just practical ones... 50 mpg and a $20 CAD full tank will do that! I just wish they had released the E-dition here earlier as I could only buy a diesel one that got that mileage...
In the eighties, I drove a Larel, a Fiat Panda reduced to a two-seater with 600 kg of lead-acid batteries in the back and a clutch with a four speed gear box.
Wasn’t there also a factory Panda Elettrica for postal delivery fleets or something?
Fantastic video as always 👍 keep it up!
So how about the EV1 which was a complete success and was killed by GM under pressure from the oil industry??
You did watch the video, right?
I’m disappointed there was not mention of US Electricar Corp and their Renault 5 conversions-marketed as Lectric Leopard, I believe several hundred were sold-and my brother still drives one today.
I usually don't comment until I've finished watching the video but holy heck! That UQM Electrek! :D
I think the poor thing had a stroke.
Suggestion for next time: hibrids before the insight/prius. Kick start tip: Alfa Romeo 33 ibrida
Not a bad suggestion. Thanks!
@@BigCar2Cheers from Portugal!
1:51 nice roomy boot for comradeship ;)
That C5 trike actually looks pretty cool to be honest. If they sold a remake of it with Li-Po batteries, a windshield, and an extra front wheel for around $1,000 I’d totally be down for buying one. :)
Check out the Renault Twizzy. A bit more than $1000 though.
Actually, awareness of global warming started in the 1870s, but that is little known..
4:50 I have one of these cars. They’re so much fun
4:12 Hey it's Geoff !
Look at me with a straight face and say the car at 4:11 doesn't look exactly like the car Jeremy James and Richard built on top gear 😂 damn check out those rims though 😮
The famous Hammerhead Eagle iThrust!
@@AtheistOrphan lmao yessss that episode is hilarious. unfortunately the grand tour just isn't the same.
Great and interesting video
The 1980's were not the 'days before our knowledge of global warming'
12:34 Audi Duo will be great hybrid car and will sell better than Prius at it's times.. pitty Audi didn't invest more in it
You missed the funniest part about the Electrec, it has a 4 Speed MANUAL Transmission that’s impossible to shift. Aging Wheels has done a great video on the electrec.
Thank-you for these two videos.Can you please add more electric car videos to the playlist? The EV 'revolution' is gaining pace rapidly, with Norway selling more EV's than fossil-fuelled cars. Thanks.
I'm thinking about it.
10:00 GM Sunracer solar panel car
we should be driving that now
Thanks for another great video!
Very nice ! Thank you .
Do 1990’s and 2000’s electric cars, that would be awesome!
I will!
Another great video and tshirt.
Another excellent video. Can't wait for the Volvo 850 one!
You might be waiting a while! It'll be the Volvo 240.
@@BigCar2Aww. Such a boring car. The 850 was the car that saved Volvo but ultimately killed it, and is a much much more interesting story. The biggest engineering project in Swedish history, the BTCC etc. Ah go on.
@@KarlHamilton Maybe the 850 will be a follow-up. I loved my V70XC!
@@BigCar2 It's just an 850 in a dress haha. Brilliant cars, love my 850 T-5R. Can't wait!!
@@BigCar2 I second the 850, it hides interesting story under it's dull boxy chassis
I'm a huge aviation fan and especially Grumman...Glad to see you mention the Grumman LLV postal truck..it's a go to for me when I want to stump someone with obscure triva ( that and the Lunar Lander)
I can't look at one the same way now!
You missed the Gurgel Itaipu!
The normal one or the van?
@@Danse_Macabre_125 the triangle one
1:37
The vovo Ele-car has door of a Peugeot 1007
H&M Mich Co
Po Box 104
Three Rivers MI 49093
I'm sure fiat heavily took their design ideas for the panda from that Volvo. It was designed only a few years after and it's uncanny how similar it is. There were even 2 electric options for the panda.
Did you ever do the video on the EV1? Can't find it in your videos
Not yet. I'm thinking of it though.
Ah, the GM solar cockroach. I remember that.
You missed a very crucial GM electric vehicle... It was based on a current production petrol or diesel version and it was Built in Britain too But it wasn't a Vauxhall... The Bedford CF Electric van.. exempt from tax it would have been popular except it was twice the price or a standard CF and only a real range of 40 miles
Will there be a 90's Electric cars AS well? Very well made videis. I'll be a patron!
I'm glad you enjoy the videos! Sorry, no 90's electric car video is planned as they weren't very popular 😢, but that doesn't mean I might in the future. But many more cool videos planned!
These videos are just so well made.
A KID AT MY SCHOOL HAD A SINCLAIR C5 WHICH HE HAD WON IN A COMPETITION.HE USED TO DRIVE IT AROUND THE PLAYGROUND.I THINK THE MOTOR WAS MADE BY HOOVER.THERE WAS ALSO A SINCLAIR ZIKE WHICH WAS AN ELECTRIC BIKE.
PAUL JACKSON - Yes, it’s featured in the video at 9:30
GREAT FILM.ELECTRIC CARS ARE THE WAY FORWARD.
Very disappointed Kewet wasn’t included in your video
Loved the T-shirt! :D
Another great video! I'm hoping for a video about the Orginal Mini through to the lastest Mini. There's a lot fof informative videos about the orginal Mini online but im sure you'll make something with new information in!
Yes, but that's been covered by so many people in the past that most people have heard the story already. I find it more interesting to find stories I didn't know before.
@@BigCar2 There's got to be loads of unheard or less popular information out there about the car! But nevertheless, any video you put out is very interesting! :)
4:12 isn't that Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust (aka Geoff ) from top gear ?😂
I found a C5 in a skip in late eighties, had a play with it and then threw it back in the next skip I looked in
Thanks, an interesting history. I now drive a PHEV, and my particular driving routine averages about 90mpg including converting the charging costs into fuel equivalent.
These pioneers got us this far, but all failed.
I test drove a Tesla model 3 last week, and WOW, what a machine, hope Elon survives. The model 3 was just too small for me.
Keep up the good work, your videos are very informative.
Whats a PHEV car?
@@joeyknight8272 Plug In Hybrid Vehicle, it has a battery good for 30 miles, then an engine as well, great if you do 30-40 miles a day. The engine only fires up when the battery is exhausted.
@@johndoyle4723 oh nice
3:40 that car look like a opel kadett
Where do you take always new car models behind you?)
Elon said he started Tesla because of what GM did with the EV1. GM needs to go bankrupt for good, with no government help this time. Its thanks to their executives that EVs were set back 20 years. Thankfully Tesla is here for good, and now Porsche is launching the Taycan. The EV is no longer dead
@ 1:29 I'd call that the *Volvolt*
i loved my c5 so cool
if you'll do part 3, don't forget Daewoo DEV-2 and DEV-4
I'm editing part 3 right now. It's going to be mainly around the EV1, but I'll edit it now and add a photo of one of them. Thanks!
@@BigCar2 sorry, it's daewoo DEV-5 , not DEV-4 and also nexia was electric, picture here: www.nexiaclub.com/elektromobil-daewoo-nexia/
My mailman has always had the same droan , i would forget to pick up my mail!
What about the GURGEL?
Anyone with a large 3D printer can create a new Sinclair C5. Strangely no one’s doing it.
Sinclair was completely right in hindsight. But the world wasn't ready then. It would have been ideal for developing countries but those developing countries were still third world countries when he had the idea and they would very quickly make their own electric cars to satisfy demand.
Why was American styling so gawky in the 80s? Terrible arch gaps and ludicrous wheels lol. Great video!
As a Brit, did you just say Zee instead of Zed?
He did. (I don’t know why).
Great job most enjoyable ,how about the real true hot hatch the fiat strada 105 .and 130 tc.not only built before the mk1 golf at 85 bhp .it was almost twice as powerful .
I knew about the lada but not much about it. I didn't know about the Czechoslovak car though. Wasn't there another electric VAZ based on something called the lada Oka that did about 20mph?