Looks like a Renault Dauphine, but it’s actually a Henney Kilowatt, the first attempt at a production EV after the demise first electric cars of the prewar era. It was a joint project of National Union Electric and Henney, a long-time builder of hearses, ambulances and limos. The cars were not just converted Renaults, but built by Henney from body parts purchased from them.
Not surprisingly, range and performance were not up to what we are used to now.
The first few were built with a 36 V system, using lead acid batteries, of course. It had a range of some 40 miles and a top speed of 40 mph. Not enough, on both counts. So the system was upgraded in 1960 to 72 volts, using 12 six-volt batteries, the same kind as used in golf carts. Range and top speed went up to 60 miles, but undoubtedly not both at the same time. These early lead-acid EVs hated higher speeds, and range was drastically reduced at higher speeds.
Some 100 or 47 were built, depending on the source, and all but 15 were bought by electric utilities (free fuel). There’s still four that have survived.
News to me! Thanks. I had never heard of these.
The concept of an electric Dauphine was resurrected in 2001 by a company in Toronto. It was called Feel Good Cars and they were converting used Renaults to electric power. I remember seeing them at the Toronto Auto Show that year. The performance was only slightly better than the Henney (50 mile range, 60 mph top speed).
I guess it all depends what you call an EV, but in the UK they never stopped making them for milk deliveries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_float
There was also a brief moment when the French made a bunch of these — during German occupation, of course. Even Peugeot got in on the game with the VLV.
https://www.lanemotormuseum.org/collection/cars/item/peugeot-vlv-1942
Those French wartime EVs were mostly tiny contraptions, but there were a few higher end ones, such as the Stela (anagram of Tesla!) below: 2 tonnes of EV, including 1 for the batteries.
They never stopped making golf carts in the US either.
Since some 90+% of our readers are from the US and Canada, unless I specify otherwise, I’m referring to the domestic market. I invariably make it quite clear if I’m referring to the European or Japanese or other markets.
The specifications brings back memories of the Sebring-Vanguard CitiCar I often drove back in 1973. Memory gives me something like 35-40 miles range and a like top speed, plus a propensity to really drop performance as you hit the final 10% of the batteries. As in, sub-15mph crawling for the last couple of miles.
I was reminded of that last Wednesday as I drove to Emporia, VA (162 mile round trip, done on a single charge with close to a 30% range buffer left at the end) to get my first pandemic vaccination. Comparison of my ‘17 Bolt to what passed as marketable fifty plus years ago is an eye opener, since the Henny and the S-V were barely an improvement over a 1920’s Detroit Electric.
Since the time of the Detroit Electric, seems like every so often, someone would come out with an EV, and they always seemed to be in one of two categories: a converted, regular production car, or a rebodied golf cart. Neither one ever came close to being a legitimate, mainstream replacement for a standard Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicle.
After the 1973 oil crisis, interest in EVs was renewed, but Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) batteries still weren’t up to the task for general EV propulsion. It really wasn’t until Bill Clinton’s Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles program in September, 1993, that interest in EV propulsion became much more serious. It eventually led to the ground-breaking 2004 2nd generation Toyota Prius (relying on a much better nickel-metal hydride or NiMH battery), followed by the 2011 Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt (both of which used lithium-ion batteries), and the rest is history.
General Motors dabbled in EVs several times starting in the 1960s with converted Corvairs and GMC vans, but they didn’t make production. Didn’t they at one point float the idea of building a few thousand Chevettes converted to electric power?
Here’s GM battery announcement Sept. 1979, FWIW:
Curious lack of environmental benefits, or any benefits of electric cars for that matter, mentioned in that article.
As Syke says, it is amazing how little technical advancement there was in the electric car in the 50-60 years after, say, 1910.
This is one I had never heard of. You have to wonder about the choice of a Dauphine for the body.
At the time the Dauphine was the second-best-selling imported car, and Renault was willing and able to supply engineless glider kits to Henney. VW, selling to waiting lists worldwide, presumably was not, and even a compact American car would’ve been too big and heavy requiring extra power that would push the project either over cost targets or under speed/range ones.
It’s because it was light, and there was more room for the batteries under its front hood than say a VW.
Electric conversions rear-engine Renaults were the most common ones, all the way through the 70s and even into the ’80s. There were lots of kits and parts.
Weight was the key factor, given the poor energy density of lead acid batteries.
I spotted one back in 2008 in Key West of all places, never heard of it before! I recall seeing “Kilowatt” on the side, and discovering it was electric, wasn’t expecting that!
I remember reading that a number of these cars were sold to electric utility companies in Florida when new (I guess the climate was more conducive to electric cars than in northern states), so my guess is that this is one of those examples. Amazing that it’s survived!
Interesting that someone thought Florida would have a climate conducive to EVs when, in fact, temperature extremes in either direction are bad for batteries, and Florida’s oppressive summer heat would seem to fall into that category.
As proof, one need only look to the Nissan Leaf with its air-cooled battery that had (and probably still has) a real bad habit of degrading significantly in hot climates. I know a few Florida guys with old Leafs that originally had a 73 mile range and are now down to well under 50 miles on a full charge.
Cold is worse than heat, especially with lead acid batteries.
Kind of reminds me of the GE electrak, They were electric garden tractors built from the 70’s to the mid 80’s. I recall reading one of the largest buyers was the TVA, which generated most of the power in the region. Free power to mow laws plow snow etc. The tractors had a lot of accessories including fun things like a electric chainsaw that plugged into the tractor battery.
Apparently the reason for the huge discrepancy in production numbers is that something like half the Dauphines bought for the Kilowatt project weren’t completed and remained in storage until a Florida company finished them and sold them as the Tiffany Mark 5 in the mid ’70s. Bob Mayer of Miami’s WTVJ – one of the few Americans doing TV road tests between Car and Track having gone off the air around the same time and MotorWeek’s 1981 start – tested one, still in a very early-postwar-European cement gray.
It appears there may have been another entity named Electric Vehicle Associates in Cleveland which also installed electric propulsion in these Dauphines during the 1970s. I have seen the car shown in the first link below and that is where I found the company name.
However, all I can readily find about Electric Vehicle Associates in Cleveland is their production of similarly converted Ford Escorts starting in 1981.
The second link also mentions the first cross-country trip in an electric car took place in 1967. It, too, appears to be a Dauphine (but newer). It took 37 stops and 15 days to go from Detroit to Phoenix. That particular car was produced by Electric Fuel Propulsion in Detroit. Thanks, Idaho National Laboratory!
https://www.autoworldmuseum.com/1975-renault-model-12-electric.html
https://avt.inl.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/fsev/HistoryOfElectricCars.pdf
Fortunately, the Henney Kilowatt was around just long enough to get its own Glamour Shots:
In looking at the prior website listings for the VIN #001 car and the VIN “EXPERIMENTAL”, car, Mr. Ken Carney wanted to buy the #1 car because his uncle was involved in the Henney Kilowatt project. I’m wondering if Ken might have scored the car, and if so & he reads this message, please let us know how you and the car are faring.
This is 1963 and the TVA as an interested party, with tally of electrical costs. But needing to replace batteries yearly ($250) was some real money–can someone tell my why they didn’t last longer?
That’s the unfortunate reality of lead acid batteries. They invariably hate to be discharged, especially to a great extent. The more often they’re discharged deeply, the quicker they die.
This is precisely why there were no practical EVs until lithium ion batteries were developed. The last paragraph in the article points that out very clearly.
It’s the same with your car starting battery: run it down too many times, and it will die prematurely.
Paul, that missed me completely—forgetting that these cars’ batteries would routinely get run way down (unlike the one in a conventional car).
Getty Images has some more photos for us, including the mean streets of NYC:
I’ve been dabbling recently with the idea of solar to recharge house batteries in my camper. The main revelation is that any lead acid is going to degrade quickly if discharged more than about 50%. AGM and gel are sold as deep cycle, but are no better than golf cart batteries and are heat damaged more easily. Lithium still costs a lot more but are the only practical choice when weight is a factor.
Yes. But how often are you going to discharge them below 50%? Golf cart batteries can take several hundred cycles to 50%. And even if discharging them to 30-35% occasionally, that’s still going to be the cheapest way to go.
My point being that camper batteries are typically not discharged as heavily and often as in an EV. My gold cart batteries in my van are now 4 years old, and in perfect health. But then I rarely take them down to maybe 65% or so.
It’s hard to beat the economics of golf cart batteries in a camper, unless it’s got a lot of heavy draw designed into it and actually used that way, like folks living in it full time.
Yes, my point was the same as yours, not disagreeing at all. The mistake I made for years with cheap Marine/RV batteries, primarily powering the fridge, was discharging them all the way down. Lifespan, about a year. Now that I know, I’m on year three and will eventually replace with golf cart ones. An inexpensive solar charge controller has a feature that cuts off battery drain at about 11 volts. I decided against solar panels, but the controller helps me monitor the battery. A small portable generator is used to recharge battery and run the fridge, especially on hot days.
Here ye, here ye,
If you have had your heart set aflutter at the prospect of having your own battery powered Renault, look no further – Craigslist will provide.
https://eugene.craigslist.org/cto/d/junction-city-1968-mars-ii-electric/7292022227.html