For reasons best known to itself, Mitsubishi – Japanese maker of the perennially nearly-here electric-drive i-Miev – name-checked a 109-year-old electric car called La Jamais Contente in a recent press release.
This would make sense if the pioneering battery car had some sort of connection with the Japanese maker, but if there is a link we can’t find it. La Jamais Contente, as the name suggests, was a French affair, sitting on Michelin tyres, powered by 750kg of Fulmen batteries and Postel-Vinay motors, and with a body coach-built by J. Rothschild & Fils of Paris. It was driven by a Paris-based Belgian called Camille Jenatzy.
La Jamais Contente (which means “never satisfied”) is notable for being the first car of any kind to exceed 100km/h (about 62mph), a barrier breached during a land-speed-record run in the spring of 1899.
It was therefore also the first car capable of posting a 0-60mph time, but alas history does not appear to record how long this emotive sprint actually took.
02 February 2009
Electric-car ancient history
Labels: electric cars, history, Mitsubishi
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2 comments:
Great info! That old EV looks like a big missile. A bit odd but very impressive!
I think the name check is Mitsubishi trying to distance the iMiEV from the general perception that electric cars have historically been nothing more than milk floats.
"It is a sports car and no I can't let you have two pints of semi-skimmed".
It's still quite an obscure reference though and I'm not at all sure whether the iMiEV or La Jamais Contente looks less like a sports car.
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