Charles Morris spotted of video of The Chez during its first use of a public charging station last year. At the time, the CitiCar was using a few trickle chargers when it still had lead acid batteries. Since it was parked next to a Tesla, it caught a lot of attention. They posted an article about CitiCar’s in general and and embedded my video to show that “a few may even be plying the roads somewhere.” (C. Morris, 2021) on EVANNEX®, which in turn was picked up and syndicated on both CleanTechnica and InsideEVs.

My Video on YouTube

Title	CitiCar at EV charging station
Author	Lewis Moten
Date	September 15, 2020
Location	Tesla Destination Charger, Front Roya, Virginia
Publisher	YouTube

EVANNEX

Title	Long before Tesla, there was another legendary electric car back in the 1970s
News Section	Tesla
Tags	CitiCar, Electric Vehicles, Tesla
Author	Charles Morris
Date	September 30, 2021
Sources	The Next Web, Classic Car History
Publisher	EVANNEX®

CleanTechnica

Title	The Legendary Electric Car From The 1970s That Lead US Electric Car Sales Until Tesla Came Along
Subtitle	Here’s some good electric classic car history for you.
Category	Cars
Author	Charles Morris (Guest Contributor)
Date	September 30, 2021
Originally Posted	EVANNEX
Publisher	CleanTechnica

InsideEVs

Title	Long Before Tesla, In The 1970s, There Was Another Legendary EV
Subtitle	Yes, EVs date back much further than some people realize.
Category	Industry
Author	Charles Morris
Date	September 30, 2021 at 9:27am ET
Originally Posted	EVANNEX
Publisher	InsideEVs

I’ve been digging into the history of Robert G. Beaumont and the CitiCar over the past few days. You’ll notice that the side-links on this site now show a link for the Vanguard I Utility Vehicle, and the Vanguard II Sport Coupe. You’ll also notice that I’m separating newspapers by year. They still need a bit of work, but I’m finding bits and pieces little by little, and trying to write up a summary of what I find. I’m in the middle of looking up newspaper articles from ’74.

Things are a bit exhausting as of late with life. After hitting a loss of 100 pounds, I’ve put 10 pounds back on. One of my neighbors was able to fix one of my cars, so now I’m able to go further than five miles from home now. Work is work, but work gets done.

I couldn’t find my glasses the other day, so I dug out a spare set and drove to the park, only to find my glasses that I had left under a tree during my last visit. So… stress and exhaustion somehow play a mix into life.

So on with the car news.

I was able to wire up the motor and spin it using the controller. In addition, I was able to wire up the SW202 switches for both forward and reverse. Some diodes arrived so that I can wire up the throttle switch for both positions without activating both switches at once, but I haven’t put them in-line yet.

I’ve been having a pretty bad time crimping with heat shrink terminals. I suspect its the ratcheting crimping tool that I am using. It said it was for heat shrink, but I’m having my doubts. I’m looking for a better tool to do the job as well as a ton more terminals.

I’ve been on a few trips recently. The latest trip was 239 wH/mile and was recharging the car at 0.92 miles per hour. I found that I could shave off a half mile when traveling to Gertrude Miller Park if I just park at Lions Community Park instead. The two parks are side-by-side, and I usually walk between the two on my visits. While driving, it doesn’t seem all that far, but a half mile shaved off the trip lets me finish recharging a half hour earlier.

I’ve got everything. Almost everything. I’m still waiting on the battery monitor.

Other than that, it’s been a lot of planning, trying to wrap my head around the wiring. I’ve got two different voltages that I’m hooking up in the system. I’ve learned a bit about relays and diodes, and worked out how to let certain things still operate such as blinker lights and the radio without the key.

Besides relays, part of the trick is to use switches that can support two separate circuits. I keep ordering the wrong switch for the gear shift. I first got an ON/ON switch and realized it didn’t have an off position for “neutral”. After that, I got an ON-off-ON switch, but didn’t realize it was a momentary switch. Hopefully, the third time will be what I need.

Here is the initial setup I’m thinking about along with notes of what is going on in this mess.

Quite a lot has been happening with the CitiCar and life in general. Let’s catch up.

First – all of the major components have arrived to modernize the cars motor. This is what I have:

4 Chevy Volt Battery Modules 48 volts, 50 AH each	Lithium battery charger	DC-2-DC 48v to 12v 5 amp and 20 amp
Fuse blocks 12v and 48v systems	GPS Speedometer	Motor
Alltrax Motor Controller	Fuse	Main Contractor Switch
Forward & Reverse Switch	Battery cut-off switch	BMS for each battery module

In addition to that, I’ve been purchasing tools, wires, terminals, and more. I’m waiting for a part that would let me connect a public charging station to the cars onboard charger.

This weekend I’ve installed a GPS speedometer. The new motor does not have a shaft for the original speedometer cable, and it doesn’t have any way to sense how fast the motor is spinning. I’ve seen others use a GPS speedometer with the upgrade. The standard size requires a 3 and 3/8 inch hole. The stock speedometer is much smaller. With the new technology comes a feature to swap between total miles driven, and a trip odometer. I still need to drill a hole and wire up the button – if I can find it.

The body has lots of small cracks. They aren’t all that noticeable. I’m uncertain if they were there when I purchased the car, or if they are growing over time. A plastifix kit has arrived to help patch it up.

Two magazines have arrived with articles in them about the CitiCar in the 70’s.