E-cars from 1983
The idea of driving a car with electricity is anything but new. As early as 1983, presenter and eco-pioneer Peter Lustig from the popular children's programme "Löwenzahn" was dreaming about it.
A green Golf 1 CityStromer is presented. At the time of the programme, it was only two years old. Only 25 examples of this model were assembled by VW. The car with four seats weighed an incredible 1.5 tonnes, without passengers. The weight was due not least to the heavy lead batteries needed to store the electricity. The vehicle was charged at a 220-volt socket, which could fully charge it again in twelve hours. This managed 60 kilometres a day, just enough to get to work and no less than a whole range of different plug-in hybrids today.
In the film, the presenter demonstrates the new car with the futuristic e-technology to a tanker driver who has just run out of fuel himself. At the end, Lustig says: "If we keep researching, we'll eventually be able to replace petrol stinkers with electric cars." We now know how long it took: even almost 30 years later, charging e-cars is still an adventure for many, but the range has improved considerably: an e-VW can now do up to 550 kilometres, a Tesla up to 580 kilometres. Unfortunately, the oil companies had no interest whatsoever in the electric car and the vehicle manufacturers also simply waited too long before they really embraced the technology and worked consistently on the further development of e-cars. If they had done so, the problem of the lack of charging stations would surely have been solved by now, VW would be the market leader and environmental zones would not be necessary at all.
At the end of the short film, Peter Lustig is very helpful and takes the stranded diesel driver to the next filling station. Wait a minute, the eco guy helps the diesel stinker so he can buy new fuel? It's hard to imagine so much helpfulness among each other these days.
You can watch the whole film clip from the programme "Löwenzahn" here: https://youtu.be/DaYEgcqyTjM