1974
1974 Electric Car
The first half of the video primarily consists of B-Roll footage with various angles of a CitiCar setting on the showroom floor at a dealership. The second half has an interview with a salesman about the CitiCar.
Footage shows that the bench seat can be removed to reveal six lead acid batteries that can be serviced. An electric plug is displayed that can plug into a normal household outlet. The car is displayed with hazard lights to show that it is roadworthy with all department of transportation (DOT) signaling required for traveling on roads. An onboard brand-name Lester charger for golf carts is displayed with replaceable fuses that were normal for an electrical box in a house at that time.
In the interview, the salesman describes the intended use of a CitiCar for short trips in the neighborhood to carry out errands such as picking up groceries, dropping kids off at school, and a short 10 mile trip to work.
He indicates that the CitiCar gets its name due to its primary use of driving within the local community / cities. Although the CitiCar is intended to “replace the gasoline operated vehicle for most city driving”. He states that the CitiCar is not intended for freeway use.
The electric vehicle costs between a penny to a penny and a half a mile to drive with the cost of electricity. At the time, an average vehicle cost was fifteen cents per mile to operate.
| Title | 1974 Electric Car |
| Published | October 12, 2007 |
| Original Date | 1974 |
| Publisher | YouTube |
| YouTube Account | pakojoe |
| YouTube ID | sgQGrm7gNfw |
CITICAR
During the energy crisis, the CitiCar is described as a way to beat the energy crisis. The lack of emissions from an electric vehicle can help beat the pollution problem as well. The electric vehicle runs about 151 miles on the equivalent of a gallon petrol. Although it may seem new, the narrator states that battery operated cars date back to 1837 in England.
Miles Per Gallon Calculations
Things of note: “Petrol” in the UK is the same as “gasoline”. Between 1974 and 1975, the U.S. embargo of oil from Iran, (also known as the energy crises), caused regular leaded gasoline to raise from 39¢ to 53¢ per gallon in the US. Gasoline was rationed at the time and roads started getting speed limit signs to reduce consumption. The U.S. was weening energy production off of Oil and onto Coal, Nuclear, and “Natural” Gas.
| Gasoline | Cost per Gallon | Average miles per gallon | Cost per mile |
| 1974 | 39¢ | 20.3 mpg | 1.9¢ |
| 1975 | 53¢ | 15.6 mpg | 3.4¢ |
A CitiCar in 1974 (36 volts) was advertised to drive up to 40 miles on a full charge. The CitiCar can go about 3 miles on a kWh. To find out how many kWh you can buy for the same amount paid for a gallon of gas, divide the cost per gallon by the cost per kWh.
| Electric | Cost per kWh | Kilowatt hours per Gallon | Equivalent miles per gallon | Cost per mile |
| 1974 | 3.1¢ | 12.5 kWh | 37.5 MPGe | 1¢ |
| 1975 | 3.5¢ | 15.1 kWh | 45.3 MPGe | 0.8¢ |
Although the doubling and tripling miles per gallon are impressive, from these results, it appears my numbers are still way off from the 151 mile equivalent per gallon stated in the video. Since the announcer is from the UK, prices for petrol and electricity may be different at the time, as well as average vehicle miles per gallon.
| Title | CITICAR |
| Original Date | May 30, 1974 |
| Location | Sebring, Florida |
| Published | July 21, 2015 |
| Publisher | YouTube |
| YouTube User | British Movietone |
| YouTube ID | KSZLend0KBc |
| Source | AP Archive |
1980
| Title | From the Archives: 1980 Electric Car |
| Interviewee | Joe Burcham |
| Reporter | Rus Geller, Tristate Report |
| Location | Burcham Motors |
| Topic | Comuta-Car, Electric Car |
| Station | WDEF News 12 |
| Air Date | 1980 |
| Published | November 17, 2010 |
| Publisher | YouTube |
| YouTube Account | WDEF News 12 |
| YouTube ID | IbVdnzXrbUM |
1982
The Price Is Right
| Title | Showcase with Electric Car! | 1982 | The Price Is Right | Barker Era |
| Show | The Price Is Right |
| Type | Game Show |
| Host | Bob Barker |
| Season | 11 |
| Episode | 4625D |
| Network | CBS |
| Air Date | Friday, October 15, 1982 |
| Appearances | A Comuta-Car appears at the end of the show in Showcase 1 |
Facebook Videos
| Publisher | ||
| Account | The Price Is Right: The Barker Era | BUZZR |
| Video ID | 220142079465740 | 355181465961800 |
| Published | January 9, 2021 3:30 PM | August 7, 2021 2:00 PM |
2014
Counting Cars Season 3
Episode 1
Roli scouts the neighborhood with Danny for a classic vehicle to purchase and directs Danny to look at an old two seater he saw the other day. They find an inoperable dilapidated CitiCar sitting on a Jack stand. There are large cracks in the body, the seats are torn, and there are leaves in the cabin. Danny talks the owner down $200 to sell it for $1,000 and loans Roli the money.
The CitiCar arrives on a flatbed truck where his crew makes a few jokes about it and dispute if it’s actually a car. Roli takes on the leading role of the project to customize his car. He makes quick work to remove the plastic body, seats, and tear down parts of the roll cage. He meets with his team to introduce his team to his project and vision.
Episode 13
Roli gets a lesson from Ryan to learn how to detail skulls on his CitiCar with an airbrush. He reveals to his team a pimped out “Hungarian hot rod” in GTO Blue. The CitiCar pimpmobile is customized with pinstriping, custom graphics, air brushing, silver leafing, black and blue fur. The cars artistic style screams “Roli”. It has 12″ aluminum wheels and the plastic body was replaced with a new aluminum body.
The episode ends with everyone trying to pile into the two-seater, legs hanging out, and a car that will hardly move with just Roli in it after everyone jumps out from a bad smell.
| Title | Electric Ride |
| Show | Counting Cars |
| Type | Reality, Automobile Customization |
| Location | Count’s Kustoms |
| TV Personality | Roli Szabo |
| Season | 3 |
| Episodes | 1: Electric Ride 13: Major League Muscle |
| Network | History Channel |
| Air Dates | E1: January 7, 2014 E13: March 4, 2014 |
Videos
| Publisher | YouTube | YouTube |
| Account | History | History |
| ID | 4ZVR01wBExA | vZB6pov6qrE |
| Published | July 13, 2021 | September 10, 2014 |
The Chez 