Electric Cars, fourty years on
GT & Ampera.
In 1971, an electric Opel GT set six world records. In September 2011 its groundbreaking descendant, the Opel Ampera, goes into production – yesterday's science fiction has become today's reality.
Forty years ago, the Elektro GT made a big impact on the racetrack. Today, the Ampera is doing the same on city streets.
It's 17 May 1971, and on the Hockenheimring Opel is giving a taster of the future. Its silver Elektro GT has already set six world sprint records from a standing and flying start over distances of between 500 metres and ten miles. Now, it's about to attempt another, over a much longer distance: 100 kilometres at a constant speed of 100 km/h. But after 44 kilometres it rolls to a stop, out of power. Its state-of-the-art nickel cadmium batteries are designed for maximum performance, not range.
The Elektro GT is a fast electric sports car, but it will be another forty years before an electric Opel has sufficient power and range to compete with similar petrol- and diesel-driven cars. The Opel Ampera, which launches in September 2011 at the International Motor Show, is marginally less powerful than its predecessor, but designed for use in everyday conditions.
The Ampera represents a whole new segment of the European market, the first production car to combine an electric engine with a range extender, using a generator to power the engine. The electric power lasts for 40 to 80 kilometres: after this, a 1.4-litre petrol engine provides unlimited range, which until recently was a pipe dream.
The Elektro GT's businesslike interior was designed to break records, with space for the driver, the batteries and not much else. The car was aerodynamically enhanced with wheel covers and a tearing edge at the back, but the batteries were heavy.
The Ampera is the culmination of a development process that goes back a lot longer than you might think. In 1901, half of all cars in New York were electric. When automobiles were still a relative novelty, it was far from clear which of the three competing forms of propulsion would gain the upper hand: steam, petrol or electricity. In the late 19th century steam, the proven technology was predominant, powering 40% of cars in the United States, compared to 38% for electricity and only 22% for petrol.
Electricity soon caught up, reaching its apex in 1912, when twenty manufacturers shipped nearly 35,000 electric cars. These required relatively little maintenance and emitted no noxious fumes. However, in 1911, General Motors engineer Charles F. Kettering invented the electric starter motor, removing the need to crank the engine – and the internal combustion engine began its inexorable rise to power.
At General Motors, the revival of electric power began in the 1960s. Cars and vans were fitted with experimental electric engines, and maximum speeds and ranges doubled. When astronauts landed on the moon in 1969, the four-wheel-drive lunar rover had electric motors in each wheel. Three of these vehicles, from Apollo 15, 16 and 17, are still parked on the moon because their batteries could not be recharged. Here on earth, petrol and diesel vehicles reigned supreme, thanks to cheap, easily available fuel and a far greater range than electric cars.
The driver of the record-setting electric car at the Hockenheimring in 1971 was Georg von Opel, a Frankfurt car dealer and grandson of the dynasty's founder, Adam Opel. With the exception of the 100-kilometre record attempt, endurance was not his primary concern: he was mainly interested in setting international speed records for electric cars.
His aerodynamically enhanced Opel GT sports coupé was powered by two DC engines with Bosch electronic control technology, Varta batteries, and specially designed Continental high-pressure tyres. It looked slim and powerful, but the technology hidden beneath its lightweight exterior was heavy. The batteries alone weighed 590 kilogrammes, and the 120-hp engine was capable of 160 hp for brief periods.
On 17 May, Von Opel achieved a maximum speed of over 188 km/h. The next day, he set two more 10-kilometre records at an average speed of 126.89 km/h. The car was then made more aerodynamic by adding a front spoiler, wheel covers, and a tearing edge at the back.
Forty years ago, Georg von Opel had little interest in everyday criteria like comfort, user friendliness and cost effectiveness. The 2011 Ampera has come a long way since then: stylish and practical, with four doors, five seats, folding rear seats and a spacious luggage compartment. The lithium-ion batteries, consisting of 298 cells and weighing 198 kg, are housed in the central tunnel underneath the car to save space and maintain weight balance. The Elektro GT may have set records in 1971, but in 2011 the new Opel Ampera is winning hearts and minds.
In May 1971, Georg von Opel's experimental Elektro GT set six world records over short distances on the racetrack. Things have come a long way since then, and the Ampera's petrol-driven Range Extender allows unlimited mobility.
Little family resemblance: The Ampera is streets ahead of th GT in space and comfort.
A short history of electric cars:
1881 Gustave Trouvé launches a three-wheel electric car at the international electricity exhibition in Paris.
1882 In Berlin, Werner von Siemens designs an electric horseless carriage, the Elektromote, powered by an overhead cable – the world's first trolleybus.
1899 Belgian Camille Jenatzy's streamlined electric car, La Jamais Contente, becomes the first electric car to exceed 100 kilometres an hour, reaching a peak speed of 105.882 km/h.
1900 In Vienna, Ferdinand Porsche builds the first hybrid car, the Lohner-Porsche Semper Vivus (always alive). Two petrol engines drive the generators which charge the batteries, and these in turn power the hub drives to the front wheels.
1911 Charles F Kettering invents the electric starter motor, which is first installed in a Cadillac.
1996 GM launches the EV-1 (EV stands for electric vehicle), the first battery-driven production car for over fifty years, of which it builds 1,117. The two-seater has a maximum speed of 129 km/h and a range of some 220 km.
2010 The Chevy Volt, the Opel Ampera's US counterpart, goes into production.
