1979: GMC and AT&T go EV in LA
By the end of 1979, service trucks used by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company in the city of Los Angeles could have been augmented by at least 20 extra battery operated utility vans. AT&T planned on using specially built 110-inch wheelbase GMC vans as part of a three-year federal program to test the feasibility of the $20,000 per copy trucks. Special vehicles need special attention you know, so the program’s facilities, including special tools, would increase the cost of the fledgling program to $534 grand. Even though AT&T would cover all operating costs, the taxpayers were to contribute, through the Department of Energy, some $227,000.
The vans were to be capable of hauling 1500 pound loads, reach a top speed of 50 mph and non-pollute up to 40 miles in any direction before returning to the big wall socket back at head quarters. Limited cruising range would be of little consequence says AT&T, because the average number of miles accrued by an average telephone truck amounted to something like 15 a day, a squad of 36 lead/acid batteries could handle this in complete silence. If the plan panned out, other urban areas including Detroit would have got theirs by the end of 1980.
All of the above assisted GM towards the production of its mid-80s electric car, a car with a plastic body, lithium/iron disulfide batteries, a computerized power control and a DC powerplant. Hmm, sound optimistic?
Related Posts
1977: Second Selica →
1977: El Downsized →
1978: 7-Piece Super Scout →
What Junkies are Saying