Fifty years ago, engineers at Chevy were playing around with a Corvair Monza sport sedan they had turned into an all-electric test bed vehicle. Christened the “Electrovair II” it used a 532-volt silver-zinc battery pack array to power a 115 horsepower AC-induction motor, allowing the car to “accelerate as quickly as a standard Corvair, even with a full load of passengers.”
Lead-acid batteries would have added more than 2,600 lbs. to the car – approximately the entire weight of a gas-powered Corvair. Hence, the use of silver-zinc batteries, which were exotic and expensive for the era – not to mention, could only be recharged 100 times.
Even so, the Electrovair II could travel at speeds of up to 80 MPH, and go 40 to 80 miles on a charge, depending upon how it was driven. My 2012 Nissan Leaf has approximately the same range, same top end, and takes about as long to recharge when using 240v. While the nuances between my Leaf and the Electrovair II are many (the Electrovair II didn’t have regenerative braking!), the fact that an electric vehicle built in 1966 was capable of delivering similar performance is a telling sign about the slow state of progress 50 years has provided.
That said, now IS the time to begin considering the purchase of an EV.
The Electric Chevy You Will Be Able To Buy: Chevy Bolt
This past January at CES Las Vegas, Chevy showed off a production model of the BOLT – a 200-mile range EV with a net price in the $30k range. While the world waits for the Tesla Model 3 to arrive (at the same net price), Chevy has brought to market an EV that has the potential of catalyzing broad consumer interest. Why? Because Chevy has managed to put a battery capable of 200 miles (“depending upon how it’s driven”) into a vehicle that isn’t priced for the wealthy. A better battery, without breaking the bank.
Flashback to a prescient comment made in the attached promotional film about the Electrovair II:
“for most driving, a better battery must be found to make a practical car. But Electrovair II has demonstrated for the first time, what electric car performance could be like when that better power source is found.”
It might have taken 50 years, but Chevy seems to have found that power source.
