Depending on whether you believe Wikipedia or PBS, the first crude electric vehicle was built in either in 1828 in Hungary or in 1832 in Scotland. Either way, the electrically-powered conveyance has lived a long life in the fringes, and even though we talk about them constantly nowadays it’s still a fringe option. EVs had a brief moment in the seventies as well, during the oil crises, and a tiny Greek-owned, British-based carmaker called Enfield used the resurgence to sell its Enfield 8000 Electric City Car.
It had two seats between its 68-inch wheelbase. They were surrounded by aluminum bodywork laid on a tubular steel frame – it was all made by hand – and a bucket of parts borrowed from such other British automotive royalty as the Ford Capri, Austin Allego, and Morris Mini Minor. Power came from a six-kilowatt electric motor powered by eight 12-volt batteries. Just 120 were made, each one good for a top speed of 40 miles per hour and a range of 35 to 55 miles, weather depending.
Head over to Transport Evolved to read more about the E8000’s history, and how one example that was once a company press car has been turned into a 1,003-horsepower electric dragster called “Flux Capacitor” that can do the quarter-mile in 12.56 seconds at 101.43 mph. Yes, it’s got some serious wheelie bars, and they’re half as long as the car.