Did The First Wave Of EVs Lead To A Battery Revolution?

It has been 15 years since the battery electric car saw a revival fuelled by an effective supply chain of electronic raw materials that has led to a transportation revolution.

Since then, the expansion of the EV market from the initial Nissan Leaf to an entire industry of versatile, practical EVs from manufacturers of the calibre and size Volkswagen, Renault and BYD has been exponential, aided by the development of more efficient, higher capacity batteries.

There have been several waves of EV development, but the difference, in this case, is with a greater infrastructure and growing popularity, EVs are likely to overtake the new car market even before petrol and diesel cars face widespread bans.

However, is this critical mass in EVs the result of a significant but ultimately failed push to make motoring electric in the 1970s?

The First New Wave Of EVs

Electric vehicles have existed since the late 19th century, but following the success of the Ford Model T and the growing range requirements of an increasingly car-driven world meant that relatively expensive electric cars went all but extinct in the first half of the 20th century.

Up until the 2010s, the most common EV on British roads was the milk float and this did not even begin to change until the early 1970s.

There were a few early prototypes in the 1960s such as the Scottish Aviation Scamp and the Enfield 8000, but neither achieved the success that they perhaps deserved.

The Scamp was initially meant to be a proof of concept about whether an electric car could be potentially usable for short trips, but a devastating evaluation by the Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) led the Electricity Council to declare it unfit for purpose.

Meanwhile, the Enfield showed potential, but political wranglings involving its owner Giannis Goulandris led to it being produced on the Greek Island of Syros, where due to complex tax issues electric cars could not be sold.

How The Oil Crisis Eventually Changed Everything 

The big change came in 1973, when due to an oil embargo the price of oil skyrocketed, leading to shortages and a dramatic change in the relationship many car manufacturing nations had with fossil fuels.

This led to the rise of the small car, significant reductions in power to conserve fuel and the end of a laissez-faire attitude to the climate, at least temporarily. It also led to a short-lived wave of electric cars hitting the market.

Vehicles such as the Sebring CitiCar would establish a small but dedicated market for EVs, with a production run of over 4000 units from 1974 up until 1979, during which time it was also known as the Comuta-Car.

Across the Atlantic Ocean, the Zagato Zele (also known as the Elcar) has also entered a relatively limited production run.

It was seen as a very unusual move for Zagato, a design house best known for aerodynamic luxury sports cars and working with companies such as Lamborghini, Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin.

The Zele was extremely small in order to try and create a high enough range to be practical, at the expense of style and top speed.

It had an official range of 50 miles and sold a relatively modest 500 units before being discontinued in 1976.

Ultimately, as the oil crisis waned, the interest in EVs did as well, and by the time the Sinclair C5 had a highly publicised but ultimately disastrous launch in 1985, developments in battery technology slowed down again and the EV market once again went dormant.

The Delayed Revolution

The issue with a lot of early EVs is that due to the range limitations, an electric car would not be practical to many people as a daily driver or primary vehicle; it was seen as a secondary car designed to work as a city car or travel to the shops and back.

However, this turned out to be a tiny market, few of which were particularly interested in an electric vehicle.

This would only begin to change in the late 1990s, when prototypes such as the GM EV1, the initial electric version of the Toyota RAV4 and the Nissan Altra EV proved that full-sized electric cars were possible, albeit with some compromises.

It also inadvertently proved there was a market for EVs, given the controversy surrounding the discontinuation of the EV1, which proved to be a catalyst for the initial success of the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt by the start of the 2010s.