(first posted on 3/16/12. Text amended and expanded, pictures added) I am a reasonable human being and therefore I have never craved an Ellert. When this thing came out in 1987, I was eight years old and was dreaming of AMGs, Gemballa Porsches and the like. As a young Dane I was not particularly particularly proud of the Ellert being Denmark’s (practically) only contribution to the car magazines I then devoured.
But this was actually fairly close to being succesful. You see this little three-wheeler’s father, Steen Volmer Jensen (whom we met last week as well), looked at the below facts about the average working age Dane’s transportation needs:
The average Dane had 11 kilometers (7 miles) to work
80 percent of Danes had less than 15 kilometers (9 miles) to work
92 percent of people who commuted to work drove alone
50 percent of public transportation users had a car in their household
Jensen, thus saw a potential for a new type of short-range vehicle. An electric motor was ideal in the early eighties with the aftermath of the oil crises still impacting people’s mentality and the fuel prices. The short range was not a problem since the Ellert was only intended to be used for short distance commuting. A small battery pack was sufficient since it only had to propel one person to and from work.
It first came out in 1987 and was called the Mini-el. That name was later changed to El-City when Rover threatened to sue over the Mini name. The public, however, immediately dubbed it “Ellert.” A moped is “knallert” in Danish, and since this was in some ways (particularly performance-wise) a three-wheeled electric moped, it was called the Ellert.
You may have noticed I have stayed away from labeling the Ellert yet. That is due to it not really being either or in Denmark. It has status of a three-wheel motorcycle; it is neither a proper car nor a proper motorcycle. It is simply an Ellert.
When it was launched it cost 27,450 DKK which I do not know how much is adjusted but the hot version of Car of the Year in Denmark 1988, Peugeot 405 MI16, cost 253,000 DKK at the time. It was a very affordable little machine. The first models came with a Pacific Scientific motor (right) which was later replaced with a Thrige-Titan motor (left). Both pumped out a maximum of around 5 horsepower.
Since it only weighed 285 kilos (628 lbs) it had a range of 30-50 kilometers (18 – 30 miles) according to the manual. Top speed was listed at 47 kph (29 mph) for the first type and 40 kph (24 mph) for the latter.
While these were a pretty common sight in the late eighties in Denmark, there were problems with them early on (as a side note Ole Sommer, whom I have talked about in earlier installments of this series, sold Ellerts for a brief period and managed to swing 250 of them). After only 150 had been built, they were all recalled to have a stuck relay fixed after it caused one Ellert to burst into flames. When around 500 had been built they were all recalled again; a fuse could get hot and burn through a hose carrying gasses from the batteries. It caused a bang. The story in the newspapers was that an owner said his Ellert “blew up.”
The silver one originally belonged to the Danish Court. Jensen got hold of it when it was replaced. He then modified it for better performance and radius.
At this point opinions of the Ellert were pretty low in the public. In general Danes rarely dream big, so when someone does and builds a vehicle from scratch, it is received with skepticism. If such a vehicle bursts into flames, it can ruin its future – especially when you combine our Scandinavian genes’ fondness for safety (read: Volvo and Saab). If something had to break, it had better be something that could cause no harm. Adding fuel to the fire (pun intended) gas prices plummeted through the eighties and the raison d’être for the Ellert was thus vanishing fast.
The company behind the Ellert was now on life support. It went through three bankruptcies and in 1995 the adventure was definitively over – at least in Denmark.
While its father passed away in 2011, the Ellert lives on in Germany and has done so since production shut down in Denmark in 1995. Smiles e-Mobility (http://www.smiles-world.de/konzept-cityel) still produces them there. They call it the most energy efficient production vehicle in the world. They list a lithium battery model with a top speed of 63 kph (38 mph) and a range of 100-150 kilometers (60 – 90 miles). The listed price is 13,000 USD should you fancy one.
The total production number in Denmark was around 4,000 according to the Motor Journalists’ Club Denmark. Smiles e-Mobility says 6,000 have been built. I imagine that number is the total including the 4,000 Danish Ellerts.
I can now appreciate the Ellert as a curious and ambitious vehicle which does make me smile whenever I rarely see one.Which, by the way, I did just the other day, a convertible even.
Saw a picture of one of these years ago it was among other bright ideas during yhe oil price spike of the 80s I didnt realise it stayed in production so long its now ready for the EV boom thats sure to come.
Fascinating little car. Given that a new one with li-ion batteries cost about the same as the Nevco Gizmo did some years back, it seems the better proposition. I’m surprised that nobody in the US license-built the Ellert, rather than start from scratch.
And we have quite the contrast here at CC today: the Ellert and a ’65 Cadillac. About as polar opposites as possible.
It was in the works…a company called PEV was going to import them, and perhaps even manufacture them in Sacramento, CA. Never came to be…but we still have 40 or so of the demonstration program CityELs running around here in the U.S.
G’day Paul – i write articles for a Perth, Western Australian-based digital magazine, called “Cars with Character” – I would like to use your article on the ELLERT car for source material for my article – what do I need to do to get approval from you to extracting some text and to use the images?
Many thanks.
A John Parker
It’s fine with me, but I need to check with the author. I’ll get back to you as soon as I hear from him.
What a great concept for inner city transportation. Heck, I live in a semi rural part of Newfoudland and could use something like that to go to work and back. It has everything it needs to do it’s intended job and nothing more, it would probably have been better though if it’s wheel layout were that of a Can Am Spyder.
Every time I see one of these, I just think of the lost opportunity. Many of us could use one of these instead of a second car. I think I stuck myself out of the running as I live on a little farm 15 miles from the nearest town. However, I can’t keep my mind from wandering. The experience of an open trike is so similar to the two wheeler that my back keeps me from enjoying.
Welding rods are cheap. Maybe this summer.
Reminds me of the Ford Cockpit concept from the ’80s.
Well, I’m not exactly a Dane, but since all four of my grandparents were born in Denmark I’m as close as it comes. (In fact, the first time I googled my name I got more hits in Denmark than in the US.) I was glad to see this contribution to the automotive scene from my ancestral country. I could see it being an option for commuters whose trip was too long for a bicycle but short enough to get back to the battery charger every night. But with no ability to stop and pick up the kids from school or haul them to soccer games etc., the utility would definitely be limited.
I had one of those. It was superb for short distance – and I do mean short – commuting, like driving kids to school or kindergarten. I always carried a mobile phone, so I could call my wife to get us back home. It is true that the press, in particular one newspaper treated the problems hysterically, blowing things way out of proportions.
They missed out one important factor in the calculations – temperature. In Denmark mean temperature during winter is about 0 centigrade, but can drop to minus 10, with the occasion cold night with under minus 20. Days are very short, sleet and rain normal most days. That means that you must drive using head- and taillights to work and back, mist forms on the windscreen which demands heat and blowers, wiipers are in use, and the battery capacity is very reduced in cold weather. Combined that meant maximum, 5 miles (8km) driving, much less in snow. It was not uncommon having to walk the remaining distance to work – which also eliminated planned charging at work to get back home.
Energy-wise it was a disaster. I did the maths to find out how much coal was used at the power-plant, in order to create the electricity that would transport me the 8 km’s to work, or the 20 km which were realistic in summer. A 6-cyl diesel could do better.
Oh, a super deluxe Sinclair C5! Are those Allegro rear lights on the silver/champagne coupe?
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Austin_Allegro_Brown_5.JPG
Overall it still looks pretty neat.
I thought the same, definitely Allegro rear lights. Those front indicators look familiar too, but can’t quite place them.
Yes. Nicely spotted. I mentioned the Sinclair in the original post, but excluded it here. I couldn’t really fit it in.
It looks like Allegro taillights are *almost* interchangeable with 1973-87 GM truck ones, too,