1970 GMC Urban Concept

Because lead-acid (PbA) batteries are big, heavy, and don't hold much energy for their size and weight, and because PbA was all they had that was practical to work with at the time, many experimental electric cars of the 1960s and 1970s were tiny two-seat 'urban' vehicles not much more useful than golf carts. The point was to minimize the vehicle's weight to compensate for its substantial battery weight and squeeze as much driving range as possible out of a modest-size, relatively affordable battery pack. This was GM's 1969 take on that theme.

Its pod-like fiberglass body, 86 inches long and 56 inches wide, sits on a midget 52-inch wheelbase steel chassis/floorpan with an integral roll bar. Its curb weight is just 1,250 pounds. Its battery pack - seven special (at the time) 12-volt Delco Remy lightweight lead-acid batteries - provided 84 volts to its Delco-Remy DC series motor through the era's most sophisticated solid-state controls. It required seven hours to fully recharge from a standard 115-volt household outlet. Its range was a whopping 58 miles at a daredevil 25 miles per hour. No mention of heating, air conditioning, entertainment, or other convenience systems.