Enfield 8000

Enfield 8000 in Hyde Park
Greek-built Enfield-Neorion 8000

The Enfield 8000 is a two-seater battery-electric city car, introduced in 1973 and developed in the United Kingdom by Enfield Automotive, owned by Greek millionaire Giannis Goulandris. The car was designed by a group of Greek and British engineers headed by Constantine Adraktas (Chairman and Managing Technical Director of Enfield) and production, immediately after its introduction, was moved to the Greek island of Syros.[1] [2] 120 cars were built in total, of which 65 were used by the Electricity Council and electricity boards in the south of England. Powered by an 8 bhp (6 kW) electric motor and lead-acid batteries, the car has a top speed of around 48 mph (77 km/h) and a range of around 40 miles (64 km).

It has a tubular chassis frame with aluminium alloy body panels. It uses suspension parts from the Hillman Imp, doors were adapted from the Mini and a rear axle derived from Reliant three-wheelers.

The company had been incorporated into the Greek Neorion company, also owned by Goulandris, and production was transferred to Syros, the company having transformed into a new Greek company, Enfield-Neorion, headquartered in Piraeus. There have been many arguments regarding the reason why Mr. Goulandris decided to produce the car in Greece, including conspiracy theories. Thanos Lebesis, then General Manager of Enfield-Neorion, argues that Mr. Goulandris had thought that "the company was owned by Greeks, the car was designed by Greeks, so it should also be produced by Greeks".[2] However, it could not be legally sold in Greece due to tax categorization issues connected with electric power, so production was exported to the United Kingdom.[2] Enfield-Neorion developments included a "Jeep" version aiming at the rent-a-car market in the Greek islands, but none could be sold locally.

A highly customised version called 'Jonny's Flux Capacitor' built by Jonny Smith is street legal.[3][4] As of July 2016, the 'Flux Capacitor' is the world's fastest street legal electric vehicle.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Άλλο ένα Enfield 8000 γύρισε πίσω στην Ελλάδα (one more Enfield 8000 returns to Greece)". Syros Agenda. 20 April 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 Stavropoulos, Michalis (2014). "Ανάμεσα σε δύο νησιά (A Tale of Two Isles) Documentary about the Enfield Electric Car".
  3. ↑ Smith, Jonny. "Flux Capacitor - Europe's fastest street-legal electric car". UK. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  4. ↑ Gitlin, Jonathan M. (15 December 2015). "On the road in the Flux Capacitor, Europe's fastest street-legal EV". Ars Technica. US. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  5. ↑ Gitlin, Jonathan M. (20 July 2016). "The Flux Capacitor is now the world's fastest street-legal electric car". Ars Technica. US. Retrieved 20 July 2016.

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