Small electric cars of the 1950s.

It is amazing how many experiments took place to develop an electric car, decades before they became popular in China.

In my Shanghai minicar article I have not included the Benteng open car (1958):

The second vehicle is a very small jeep, unveiled in 1956 in Tianjin. It doesn’t seem to have a name.

The Tianjin-made jeep has a very early registration, 1*10050. The curb weight was 590kg, the gvw 820kg.

The next car is made by the Shenzhonghua Auto Accessories Works. They were in Shanghai.  Name of the car: Hongqi (Red Flag, like so many cars at that time),  date of birth June 1958. Empty weight 1140kg, gvw 1400kg. Sizes: LxWxH 3950x1300x1590mm, wheelbase 2250mm. Speed 35-40km/h, range 100km. Tyre size 4.00-15.

And then an electric pickup, made in Beijing by the Traffic Bureau.

Some details: weight 1360kg, sizes LxWxH 4500x1690x1790mm, wheelbase 2850mm, speed 30km/h, tyre size 6.50×16. Range 150km.

These electric vehicles were not the first in China. Long ago, in the early 1920s the company Andersen, Meyer & Co. Ltd. imported the Milburn, an electric sedan.

Andersen, Meyer & Co., Ltd. used wise words: An automobile can only go so fast and so far as streets and traffic conditions will permit. In China, a light electric will serve every purpose and keep down the expense of light, oil and tires. 

The Milburn Wagon Company (Toledo, Ohio) made electric cars from 1914-1923. In 1923 the factory was sold to General Motors and produced Buick since then.