Videos: 1974 electric CitiCar, 1990 GM Impact

by Lascelles Linton (RSS feed) on Oct 14th 2007 at 3:09PM

There was a big push for electric cars in the '70s because of energy concerns. There was another big push in the '90s because of a California law. The two videos below the fold are of the two iconic cars from those bygone decades: First, the triangle on wheels, aka the CitiCar ~~City Car~~. In a 1974 video, we get a look at the batteries, which were located directly under the seat. Second, is a video from 1990 all about the GM Impact (later renamed the EV1). The Impact videos tells the story of how Paul inspired GM to make the car. Hopefully, 10 and 30 years from today, we'll have more than old videos of the current crop of electric cars, and those that should be coming out very soon.

[Source: YouTube]

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, GMC

Tags: citi car, CitiCar, electric car, electric cars, electric vehicle, electric vehicles, ElectricCar, ElectricCars, ElectricVehicle, ElectricVehicles, ev1, gm impact, GmImpact

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

BlackbirdHighway 8:03PM (10/14/2007)

I remember around 1979 I met some guys who had City Cars in the Wierton West Virginia area. These were truly the "glorified golfcarts" approach to electric cars. Those guys had a lot of trouble and were making lots of modifications due to the many steep hills in West VA. The cars would get about 40 miles per charge in under the best conditions - going slow on flat roads.

When you look at the progression from the City Car to the EV1 to the Tesla, and imagine what the next generation will be like, it certainly seems that the electric car is going to catch on, it's just a matter of time.

↓↑report

MetroMPG.com 9:39AM (10/15/2007)

FYI: "CitiCar", not "City Car".

↓↑report

Lascelles Linton 9:40AM (10/15/2007)

MetroMPG, Changed. Thanks!

↓↑report

GoodCheer 10:39AM (10/15/2007)

Boy that EV1 video is heartbreaking to watch isn't it? So much optimism and so much promise, and all thrown away.

"4 out of 5 people would consider owning an electric car."

↓↑report

Wes 9:44PM (1/02/2008)

I own an original 1974 citi car - I may be interested in selling it - do you know the current value?

↓↑report

Add your comments

Your comments:

Remember me

E-Mail me when someone replies to this comment

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

Featured
Breaking
Popular

View all

Featured Galleries

Team Autoblog Green

Editor-in-Chief

Sebastian Blanco: Email

The Team

Autoblog Green bloggers (30 days)

#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Sam Abuelsamid	100	2
2	Sebastian Blanco	95	10
3	Jeremy Korzeniewski	74	1
4	Domenick Yoney	21	0
5	Xavier Navarro	17	0
6	Drew Phillips	3	0
7	Chris Shunk	3	0
8	Frank Filipponio	3	0
9	Jonathon Ramsey	2	0
10	John Neff	1	0
11	Dan Roth	1	0
12	AutoblogGreen Staff	1	0
13	Gary Witzenburg	1	0
14	Chris Paukert	1	0

Engadget

Autoblog

Tech

Finance

Joystiq

Travel