Ford Engineers in aprons inspect the Ford Comuta
Way back in 1967 Ford took their very first electric concept car to
the Geneva Motorshow. The tiny Ford Comuta a product of Ford UK was something of a very early experiment into the world of electric cars for Ford; powered by 4 12 volt 85amp hour batteries and driven by two lightweight 5hp electric motors taken from the aircraft industry.
The Comuta features a Lotus Elan style backbone chassis which carried its lightweight fibreglass body work which carried the driver as well as an additional 2 passengers! The Ford Comuta could reach a top speed of 40mph but if you wanted to get the most out of its maximum 40 mile
Not so different, modern electric vehicles
range it was suggested that you stick to a more sedate 25mph cruising speed. Unlike modern lithium-ion battery technology the chemical limitations of Lead Acid batteries meant that the last few miles may be at a snails pace. Despite the vehicles low centre of gravity and Lotus-like chassis design, the handling of the comuta was far from Lotus-like.
At the time Ford of Great Britain predicted that small electric cars like this would be commonplace in city centers by the mid 70s; they were off by about 40 or so years.