Trends in Transportation - Hydrogen and Fuel Cells: Advances in Transportation and Power - page 144

roads. America was becoming an asphalt nation due to weaknesses in the
streetcar industry, the push to sell buses, and the state-sponsored building
of roads during the Depression.
ELECTRIC REVIVALS
Electrics have made some reappearances over the years. A major
effort occurred after the fuel problems from the Arab oil embargo in 1973.
But in the late 1950s the utility-endorsed Henney Kilowatt of 1959 to 1961
appeared as a converted French Renault Dauphine. About 120 Henneys
were built and other efforts were even not that successful.
A number of 1970 era electrics came out of the 1973 oil embargo.
Among these strange looking electric cars was the Free-Way Electric,
which resembled a bug, the 3-wheeled Kesling Yare, with Starwars styling
and the B&Z Electric, which appeared to have been made of wood scrapes.
Florida-based Sebring-Vanguard sold 2,200 of their 2-seat, plastic body
CitiCar following the 73 oil embargo. They looked like a phone booth on
wheels and were powered by golf-cart batteries with a top speed of 30
miles per hour and a range of 40 miles in warm weather. Viable commuter
EVs would have to wait until the conversions of the late 1980s.
STEAM REVIVALS
There have also been revivals of the steam car. Robert McCulloch,
the chain-saw millionaire, spent part of his fortune on a steam prototype,
called the Paxton Phoenix, between 1951 and 1954. William Lear of Learjet
fame, spent $15 million in 1969 on a turbine bus and a 250-horsepower
turbine steam car. Both used quiet, efficient steam engines although the
bus had reliability problems and poor gas mileage. Lear also tried to enter
a steam car into the 1969 Indianapolis 500. The British firm of Austin-
Healey was also working on a steam car in 1969. It had four-wheel drive.
However, even prosperous entrepreneurs like McCulloch and Lear found
that they lacked the means and support structure to successfully mass
market a competitive car. Alternative power systems would have to wait
until air-quality regulations resulted in some breakthroughs with hybrid
and even fuel-cell cars.
In the 1950s, the Volkswagen Beetle became a popular small car and
by 1960 had sales of hundreds of thousands. Other economy cars included
several compacts such as the Ford Falcon and Dodge Dart. In Europe, 50-