When people think of electric cars as glorified golf carts, the CitiCar may be what they have in mind. Brought out in the mid-1970s, during the height of the oil crisis, the CitiCar could top 30 mph and had a reliable range of 40 miles in warm weather. The cars were priced to be competitive with the Volkswagen Beetle, and by 1975, Vanguard-Sebring was somehow the sixth largest automaker in the U.S. But the tiny, tinny CitiCar suffered due to safety concerns it had all the crumple resistance of a beer can and the model didn't outlast the 1970s, where it definitely belonged.
The History of the Electric Car
Since the advent of the automobile, car makers have struggled to build mainstream electric vehicles. Here are their best and worst attempts