[...] here's a short film on electric vans and trucks from 1984 [...]
The music killed my ears
No big changes in the selling points compared with today: non-polluting, noiseless, same or somewhat lesser price when considering the whole life cycle of the vehicle, no gearbox, driver-friendly... As far as I know, it has been (and will certainly continue to be) the same speech since the "birth" of the automobile, when the gas engines were not seen as the only possible powering solution (remember the electric "
La Jamais Contente", first car to reach 100 km/h / 62 mph in 1899).
But each time a (small) fall in gasoline prices comes, and automobile makes "stop to believe" in it...
A 1968 overview about the electric cars (in French):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NU_5-E_lNg
Featuring:
- the 1942 "Œuf électrique" (electric egg) of
Paul Arzens;
- some British electric vans;
- the 1967
Ford Comuta;
- the (fast seen) 1966
GM Electrovan;
- and a lot more of electric vehicles.
At 12:02: "
I don't think fuel cells vehicles will be available to the public until 1975"
At 12:53 (with a Comuta as example): "
The electric car could be a second car, that multiple users could share...": the very beginning of the idea of car-sharing? As said in "your" documentary, Sandie, this is the "Electric revolution"
