MOTO-SCAT

When its a Henney Kilowatt.



You can read the same Wiki article as I have but to summarise, a conglomeration of business interests (including the excellently named Eureka Williams Company) wanted in on an electric car for the US market and so one was developed in the late 50s using the Dauphine as the basis. The first ones had pretty rubbish range and speed but upping the voltage and batteries had them cruising at 60 and capable of 60 miles on a charge. The article also mentions a report that most of those produced went to electric companies, so similar to the Enfield over here then.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henney_Kilowatt











It seems that they did not sell all that well to the public (surprise!) and so plenty of parts were left over. An enterprising gentleman bought all he those he could, barned them, altered some of the electrics and then managed to flog them off during the early seventies fuel crisis. He recently sold off his remaining kits. A shrewd man I would suggest.

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/11/03/hemmings-find-of-the-day-henney-kilowatt-v2-controller-and-charger/

An interesting bit of history, thanks Seth

Wikipedia wrote:Although the Kilowatt is described by some sources as "the first transistor-based electric car", the speed controller uses a combination of relays and diodes to switch the batteries and motor windings in different configurations for different speeds, not transistors.

That's quite interesting. The el-cheapo way to control motor speed is with some big fat resistors inline with the motor, like you'd get in a Tamiya Hornet radio controlled car with the mechanical speedo. It is inefficient as it just wastes your battery away as heat. The Kilowatt method of switching the batteries and motor windings in different configurations is a very efficient (and effective) way to control the motor and is used on a lot of electric trains. When you're on the train and you can hear the motor cycling through what sounds like gears, it is in fact switching between windings in the motor for different speeds. Today we can do all this completely silently using tonking great transistors in switched mode power supplies, again, a lot like a giant version of the electronic speed controllers you could buy for your Tamiya Hornet [1]/Midnight Pumpkin [2]/Hotshot [3].

[1] Skill
[2] Well wicked
[3] Fat spoiled little ****

This has inspired me to dig out some of my 'rubbish electric car' stuff at some point. The choice of base cars seems to be universally hilarious in this sort of endeavour.

Can anyone remember the electric Dauphines that were built in the mid/late 1990s? I don't know if it had any connection to the Henney cars, or if it ever really got off the ground, but there was a small amount of column inches on the subject in the cla**ic press at the time.

Well I wouldn't mind seeing that stuff, Barrett. I don't remember anything Dauphine-based in the 90's, only the usual humiliatingly ridiculous looking vehicles that came out and put everyone off 'leccy cars.

When it's an Ondine.


When is a Renault Dauphine not a Renault Dauphine?

When it's an Alfa Romeo.


From Wikipedia: In Italy Alfa Romeo built the Dauphine Alfa Romeo under license between 1959 and 1964 in Portello, Milan. Differences with the French model are: electricity (Magneti-Marelli) 12 Volts, special lights, and the logo "Dauphine Alfa Romeo" or "Ondine Alfa Romeo".