Initial marketing of the vehicle was to electric utilities. The start and stop feature of an electric vehicle fit with certain industry jobs such as meter readers and bill collectors. It also was a good runabout for workers at large utility plants.
The 1960 model had a little more oomph, said Kemp. It had 12 six-volt batteries, a top speed of 60 mph, and a range of 60 miles.
The sticker price was $3,500
https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2024-04-04/mchistory-rivian-is-not-the-first-electric-automaker-in-bloomington-normal
No surprise it didn't succeed.
ReplyDeleteA new gas powered Renault Dauphine was $1645 in 1960 gave you 39 mpg and a gallon of gas was $0.3!
I'm a winner! This is the first almost a car you have posted that I've actually kinda owned, almost.
ReplyDeleteI had a gas powered (if you could call it that) automatic 58 Dauphine. There were a lot of odd details with that cute little turd. only had 3 wheel studs, had a hole in the rear for a crank to manually crank the motor, It was a uni-body, the spare tire slid into that opening under the front bumper, centrifugal oil filter, The automatic transmission had a rotating plate with contacts riding on it that somehow told an actual circuit board when to shift. - sorry for ramble, hadn't thought about that little turd for 20 years.