CityEl Electric Car from 1992

There is an Indian carmaker called Reva Electric Car Company. They design and manufacture compact electric vehicles. They have been in business since 1994. Their first vehicle was REVA (Revolutionary Electric Vehicle Alternative).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahindra_Electric

Unfortunately tricycles share downsides of both motorcycles, and cars, and advantages of none.

Even this way, an inverted tricycle is usually cheaper/better because it eliminates the differential, and allows for the centre of mass in between front wheels.

I was able to get a Zagato Zele [0] from ~1974.

One of the first "real" electric cars. A 2 seater with only two speeds (no variation, just 2 relays and a resistor in series). With 100kg of lead acid batteries, this thing didn't get very far.

But to be fair, it was so much fun driving with it. So noisy with their reductor, but a fun little car nevertheless. Reminds me of the Renault Twizy which was a fail but fun.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zagato_Zele

To me, the ideal design for an electric car has always been: not a Lexus with a battery, but an electric bicycle with a roof and some storage.

Rich Rebuilds did a video on this where they replaced the battery with a pack of modern cordless drill batteries [1]. Unfortunately they crashed it later but it shows that the old batteries just were not ready. I also remember our city had electric vehicles around 1985. At the end of the day they could only drive very slow at a walking pace.

[1] https://youtu.be/erMhK4Hf16E

Edit: just remembered the brand of the electric vehicles: Spijkstaal. They are still in business https://spijkstaal.com and have been creating electric vehicles for over 80 years!

Around the same time there was this car: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotzenblitz

Actually really cool, just a bit too early for its time.

I have a Citroen Ami on order and can’t wait! I think it might be the perfect “car” for London. If you’re into the idea of little electric cars that are ruthlessly utilitarian it’s worth checking out.

My mom had an yellow "Pinguin" in mid 90s. I think she had it short before the first smart came out. For short trip to the city it was nice and easy to park anywhere :-)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puli_(car)

These always remind me of that oil company-sponsored intentionally unappealing electric car from Simpsons.

If they're able to deliver on their promise, a startup in India called Strom Motors is building a small vehicle that looks very similar to the CityEl! https://www.strommotors.com

There were some cool electric cars in that time. Back then they were held back by the batteries. But revisiting these designs with contemporary batteries should be a game-changer.