By Antti Kautonen
For some time, this white box was what Finns thought about when electric vehicles were mentioned. The Finnish company Elcat, owned by a larger energy company, churned out electric vans converted from Subaru Domingos until 2002. The Elcat Cityvan saw use by municipalities, graveyards and the like, including the Finnish Post. Before the Fiskers came along, this was the official Finnish electric vehicle. Not that anyone drives a Fisker here…
The senseless script on the front is the slogan “Liikun Sähköllä” mirrored, “I move on Electricity.” Not a bad town runabout, this.
The Cityvan is a box on wheels, nothing more, nothing less. The bull bar is a design element.
The Cityvan 200 badge on the rear denotes this as the version that does 80 km/h and has a 70km range. The vehicle has about 400 kg:s of lead batteries in it.
[Images: Copyright 2013 Hooniverse/Antti Kautonen]
That looks excellent. Pretty much like a Japanese microvan. In the US, the first kind-of real electric car was the Citicar, which was basically a wedge bodied golf cart. We also got the Ford THiNK, but that fortunately passed without much notice.
Kinda like the Fisker Karma.
Ouch.
Ah, the Th!nk – Norwegian zombie company that went bankcrupt how many times? Nine? Subsidy bonanza!
Whoa, Finnish written backwards? I think I have a headache now.
That must be an absolute hoot to drive. With all that lead-acid mounted down (hopefully) low the c of g must be at the floor. That said, could be a recipe for monumental understeer.
Ideally, your suspension geometry puts your roll center at six inches or less off the ground. No chance of that here. This is a guaranteed understeering pig, redeemed only by its having no chance of ever generating the acceleration that might get it in trouble. And no, you shouldn't be proud if you can get it to lay over on its side. It just needs a nap.
Yeah, to be honest I thought that seconds after tapping "submit". I wonder how long front tyres last?
Are charging points common enough in Finland yet? I guess in Helsinki they are, as here in the UK, London has plenty and often in prime parking locations. Electric is getting to be the good choice if you live in the centre as I do.
I sat in an Elcat once, altough it was older and based on an older version of the Subaru. It was alright, but I had to open the door to get my knee out of the way every time I needed to indicate left.
By the way, Elcats are expensive to own in Finland because they get slapped with the same "F you" tax as every other kind of non-petrol vehicle. It's sad.