My almost first electric car.

[jwolens]

I thought I would share this. The story behind the company and president has many sides (crook, fraud, killed by big oil, etc.) but still worth sharing.

My childhood dream car. I saved up my money and talked with the manufacturer (see hand-written notes on last page).

It never went into production.

All of its promises are now fulfilled with my Tesla Model S- VIN 4265.

 

[rlpm]

Interesting. Here's a higher-resolution scan in PDF form I found on the Interwebs:
http://www.rcc.us/Frua/1979_amectran_01.pdf

And there's even more information on the Amectran website.

 

[TheAustin]

Wow, very interesting, thanks so much for sharing! When I was a kid growing up in California in the 70's, this was exactly the kind of car we kept hearing about...But then had to wait almost 40 more years to see become a reality!

Incidentally, Is it just me, or does the front of the EXAR-1 strongly resemble the wedge-shaped nose of the iconic Lamborghini Countach? A.K.A. The first car I ever fell in love with...

 

[araxara]

Incidentally, Is it just me, or does the front of the EXAR-1 strongly resemble the wedge-shaped nose of the iconic Lamborghini Countach?

Good catch!, But I think the car was based on the Lamborghini Espada:

 

[Laumb]

I find it interesting that the Range is 75-100 miles. Not much has happened since then (except Tesla). All other manufacturers have the same Range.

Couldnt work out how many kWh the battery is? Should compare efficiency and weight against the Leaf. 125-180 mpge?

 

[Stoneymonster]

Does that REALLY say 19 hp? Mother of god.

Edit: Crude calculation with that curb weight says 0-60 in 40 seconds.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I find it interesting that the Range is 75-100 miles. Not much has happened since then (except Tesla). All other manufacturers have the same Range.

Couldnt work out how many kWh the battery is? Should compare efficiency and weight against the Leaf. 125-180 mpge?

100 mile range is probably using very optimistic assumptions (plus you have to keep in mind the EPA testing has changed to much stricter standards now).

Article only mentions 144V 1600lbs of lead acid batteries. Article claims 5 hours for 220V charge (40 amps peak) and 8 hours for 110V. 110V even at 15A peak only gives 12kWh of energy.

By comparison, the 1996 lead acid EV-1 had 1200lbs of lead acid batteries with 16.5kWh (312V, 53Ah) of energy.
http://avt.inel.gov/pdf/fsev/eva/genmot.pdf

If they are assuming 125mpge for 75 miles of range and 180 mpge for 100 miles of range, that means they have about 0.6 gallons of energy, which works out to 20kWh if you use the 33.7kWh per gallon conversion (they may be using a different one).

So pretty much no more than 20kWh, probably in the 10-15kWh range.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Does that REALLY say 19 hp? Mother of god.

Edit: Crude calculation with that curb weight says 0-60 in 40 seconds.

Like most DC motors, that's probably the continuous power, peak power is probably 2-3x that, or about 40-60hp.

 

[vfx]

Mentioned in these pages 2007
History of electric cars
EXAR-1 promotion video

Various goes at electric
Rank Top 10 Electric Cars?

 

[dtich]

great post.

1600lbs of lead acid batteries and a 19hp motor. oof.

looks pretty deloreanesque (although some years before, yes?) to me, but def seems based on that espada, which is gorgeous. never saw that before.

thx all.

 

[agileone]

Funny, I found this by chance, on the CBC, while looking for a story on electric cars that supposedly run last week...

Thought you would like see it running : CBC Digital Archives - Cars in Canada - The Exar-1

 

[TheAustin]

Good catch!, But I think the car was based on the Lamborghini Espada

Nice! I say, Countach for the nose, Espada for the rear...AKA, Party in the front, business in the back - The reverse mullet