Bob Lutz might try to have us believe that he “invented” the plug-in hybrid Volt. In reality, he just dusted off old plans on GM’s shelves for their 1969 XP-883. Forty years ago, in response to concerns about tightening emission standards and future oil supplies, GM unveiled a plug-in hybrid city car concept. Six 12 Volt lead-acid batteries propelled the Smart-sized car electrically up to about ten mph, when a tiny 600cc two-cylinder gas engine kicked in to provide additional motivation up to its maximum top speed of sixty. The XP-883 seated two adults, plus two kiddies facing backwards, perched above the battery pack. The cute-as-a-button fiberglass bodied coupe foreshadowed both Vega and Opel 1900/Ascona styling. If GM had made it, it would undoubtedly have gotten you laid (with hairy-legged girls) just like the Volt will in 2010. But then what wouldn’t, in 1969? Maybe that’s why they didn’t bother.
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It looks like the inspiration for the Chevette/Opel Kadett. Looks like an early Wayne Cherry design, but there’s also a lot of Dick Teague over it. Who designed it?
“Priustoric”
Great pun, worth repeating.
The headline is verbatim from Wired, so TTAC can’t take credit for it.
GM also “EV-entually” got around to building a low-production car in the 1990’s, but in 1964 built an Electrovair and in 1966, did an Electrovair II with silver-zinc batteries weighing some 2000 pounds less than lead-acid batteries (but no doubt, costing a “ton” more).
http://www.corvaircorsa.com/monzapr7.html
But then again, I’ve seen a write-up about a Toyota Crown gas-turbine electric hybrid car in one of my 1970’s world car books, so you know Toyota have been working on some form of hybrid since the first energy crisis.
It looks like a Shriner’s car
The answer to the question..,,,,..What would you get if you crossed an Avanti with a Gremlin ?.
I would go for something like that if it cost about as much as an aveo, and I lived in a large city. It’s actually pretty nice looking, though it does look like a death box in comparison to some other vehicles of the time period.
Just imagine, in 2048 someone will run a story about another GM concept car which everyone will have forgotten by then – the Chevrolet Volt.
I’ll say it again – put the EV1 drivetrain in an Astra or an Aveo GTI style car. I’ll buy one. That will yield a 75 mile range or so? Leave out the gas engine entirely and save the cash and the development costs.
Oh, and that car above is truly hideous. Build it for those who would buy it but I won’t. It like a Pinto’s ugly cousin in from Chicago.
Doubt that that is gone work. Would the EV1 drivetrain survive the weight of an Astra electic
It’s too bad they didn’t continue with the XP-883
This is what they were doing a few years previously as other posters have mentioned :-
ELECTROVAIR I
Powered from Silver Zinc battery pack.
Built in 1964 by GM Engineering staff on a standard rear engine Corvair platform. The powertrain was spec’d to deliver 90 Hp over a 4 :1 speed range.
From graphs provided
a) 140lbs-ft from 0 to 3380 rpm — Constant torque to base speed
b) 90Hp from 3380 to 10,000 rpm — Constant Power
c)Drops to 60Hp at 13000rpm — Constant bus voltage Where’s Toyota’s Upconverter when you need it ?
I add the following notes :
b) Constant power at 90Hp is a battery current limitation
a) Constant torque is a controller design issue of current being limited by semiconductor ratings which mostly mirror motor current ratings.
This is standard 1966 style of thinking.
Today, in a traction application, we would more than likely size semiconductors to feed the motor with 300% (420lbs-ft) current overload until 1/3 rated voltage output at which point rated battery current would be reached and then an inverse motor current command would be in force to gradually reduce motor current until it equals the battery current 140lbs-ft at 3380 rpm. This way we can extend the constant power region below base speed.
The motor was a liquid cooled 3 ph induction motor, 13,000 rpm supplied by Delco
10.75″ dia. and 14″ long weighing 130 pounds including the adapter plate.
I have to assume that this motor was coupled to the original gearbox very similar to the popular VW conversion setup using that adapter plate. The photograph from the link shows this clearly. I fail to understand with all that funding for silver-zinc batteries why they did not go an extra yard and fit the motor parallel to the rear axle. A parallel coupling via a hy-vo chain onto the differential would have been a lighter and considerably more efficient solution. With the use of the original hypoid gear to turn the power thru’ 90 degrees possibly 30% of motor torque is lost to friction.
Cooling system and electrical controls weighed 350lbs. No, that’s not a mistake. The oil system is fairly extensive. The oil pump may have been needed if it was an automatic transmission.
ELECTROVAIR II 1966
Again powered from Silver Zinc battery pack
and using a standard rear engine Corvair platform.
The powertrain was spec’d to deliver 115 Hp over a 4 :1 speed range.
The motor was similar to the previous Electrovair
Cooling system and electrical controls reduced to 215lbs.
Range 40 -80 miles.
Exhibited Oct 28th 1966 at the GM Technical Center
A GMC Handivan dubbed the Electrovan also exhibited the same day. It used hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells again at 530v but a 125 Hp motor rating.
That car looks like a Pinto and Plymouth Champ hooked up.
“If GM had made it, it would undoubtedly have gotten you laid (with hairy-legged girls) just like the Volt will in 2010.”
I’ll have to get on the official unofficial Volt wait list straight away
You mean GM has been hyping fuel cells since 1966???
I wish they’d show what they WERE going to build instead of pipe dreams.
In a mostly-related note, here’s an episode of American Public Media’s “The Story” that interviews Wayne Goldman on electric cars:
Selling Electric
Also in the end of a different episode there’s an interview with Bill Buhl who apparently built an electric car for GM in the late ’60’s. There are also pictures.
T2: I hope you post more – fascinating. Didn’t Alan Cocconi, the controller designer, quit the EV1 project because he wanted to make it hybrid and market practical? Folks at http://ev1.org seem to feel that GM has been sandbagging with electric cars because they are deeply dependant on oil investment revenue coupled with after market service revenue. Electric vehicles are almost service free. There is also the battery post-use recycling/disposal issue. Who would pay and be responsible?
Didn’t Alan Cocconi, the controller designer, quit the EV1 project because he wanted to make it hybrid and market practical? Folks at http://ev1.org seem to feel that GM has been sandbagging with electric cars because they are deeply dependant on oil revenue coupled with after market service revenue and Electric vehicles are almost service-free. Then there is the issue of who would pay and be responsible for post-use battery recycling and disposal…One thing I never got….That 1969 plug in was a tiny car for the time. Why didn’t the General use the full size car platform since it could carry more batteries and electric motors have tons of torque to motivate a big car?
Wow! Those cars used Ag-Zn batteries…
People talk about NiMH and Li-ion having short lifetimes at a thousand cycles. Ag-Zn batteries last on the order of tens of cycles. As in, if you get 25 cycles you’re doing really good. I’m sure they chose them for their decent energy density (~100-125 Wh/kg) for proof of concept. For comparison, a really good lead acid is ~35 Wh/kg.
Top end solar powered race cars used Ag-Zn in the World Solar Challenge up until 1999 when Li-ion started showing up in a few cars. In the 2001 race almost no one was running Ag-Zn because you could do so much better with Li-ion. Of course, our cycle counts were <10 so Silver Zinc’s short lifespan wasn’t too much of a problem.
Brett Woods: There is also the battery post-use recycling/disposal issue. Who would pay and be responsible?
Leave that to the owner to dispose of the batteries with a fee at the dealer or some independent battery replacement shop or simply build into the price a disposal fee allowing the owner the drop off a battery at any GM dealer.
Toyota has a hybrid battery program encouraging anyone who has one to send it back for recycling. There might even be a refund of a couple hundred dollars. That I heard second hand so don’t quote me on it.
With the current economy souring, I wonder if this will push back alternative energy or alternative energy powered vehicles and if folks won’t just be looking for the cheapest vehicle they can afford meaning the clock will roll away from luxury to barebones Hyundai Excel style cars from 1990.