Amitron

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AMC
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Amitron
Presentation year: 1967
Vehicle fair:
Class : Small car
Body shape : Combi coupe
Engine: Electric motor
Length: 2159 mm
Empty weight: 499 kg
Production model: none

The Amitron is an electrically powered concept vehicle that the American automobile manufacturer AMC built together with Gulton Industries in Metuchen ( New Jersey ) in 1967 .

construction

The Amitron was the prototype of a three-seater, wedge-shaped city car with an overall length of only 2159 mm. “The modern looking Amitron was one of the most promising electrics developed in the Sixties.” (German: “The modern looking Amitron was one of the most promising electric vehicles that were developed in the 1960s.”)

When the vehicle was unveiled to the public in December 1967, Roy D. Chapin, Jr. , CEO of AMC, states that the Amitron "could eliminate many problems that have made the use of electric cars impractical to this day." A piggyback system of two 11 kg nickel-cadmium batteries and two 34 kg lithium batteries (with 331 Wh / kg), developed by Gulton Industries, should give the car a range of 240 km at a speed of 80 km / h. Compared to the electric vehicles with lead-acid batteries of the time, this represented a major step forward, because they only had a limited range with one battery filling each. The battery designers chose lithium as the electrode because “it is both very reactive (easy to oxidize) and has a high electromotive potential.” The total weight of the batteries of only 91 kg was also low for electric vehicles. Lead-acid batteries with the same capacity would have weighed around 907 kg.

"... The established internal combustion engine vehicle manufacturers in the late 1960s did not produce much in the way of electric vehicles. Most could have been easily replicated by any individual, and resembled souped-up golf carts (although the Amitron was in a class by itself — it featured Gulton's lithium batteries, a solid state controller, 50-mph speed, and a 150-mile range ). ... (German: The established manufacturers of internal combustion engines at the end of the 1960s produced hardly anything in the direction of electric vehicles. Many of these few vehicles could have simply been made by private individuals and looked more like more advanced golf carts (even if the Amitrom was in a class for himself - he had the lithium batteries from Gulton, a charge controller, reached a top speed of 80 km / h and a range of 240 km). ...) "

The car's lithium batteries were designed to run at a steady speed. In the acceleration phase, the nickel-cadmium batteries switched on briefly and brought the Amitron from 0 to 80 km / h in 20 s. A recuperation braking system automatically switched the drive motors to generator function in the event of a deceleration so that the batteries were recharged; so the range was increased to 240 km. This was the first use of a regenerative braking system in the USA.

The drive system was first tested on the road in 1968 in a Rambler American . At the time, American Motors' deputy head of construction, Richard Teague , was working on a car called the “Voltwagen”. Amitron supporters were sure of their cause and in 1977 announced: “We don't see a major obstacle in the technology. It's just a matter of time. (Eng .: We don't see any major obstacles for this technology. It's just a matter of time.) "

Nonetheless, the clean road development programs in the USA have been discontinued. The Amitron did not get beyond the prototype stage. Its development was typical of attempts to improve the performance and range of electric vehicles. It had a fully electronic CPU to regulate efficient energy recovery. Its design features also included seats with air cushions instead of PU foam pads. The Amitron was designed to minimize the loss of power due to rolling resistance , air resistance and vehicle weight.

American Motors' original plans were to bring the Amitron to commuters and people traveling into town to shop after five years. Chapin said AMC had discussed the project with its banks and lenders and said "they are about as enthusiastic about it." The Amitron was also well received by the public, but it never went into series production. The high price of the batteries prevented AMC from conducting further experiments with electric vehicles for several years.

In 1977, AMC developed a similar electric car called the Electron .

The idea of ​​the recuperation brake realized at Amitron was brought onto the market much later by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota , which then issued licenses to Ford and Chevrolet for their hybrid vehicles built in the USA .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Franktoid No. 2 - AMC's Amitron . Frank's Classic Car Blog. April 14, 2011. Retrieved April 6, 2012.
  2. ↑ a b W.F. Hamilton, EJ Eisenhut, GM Houser, AR Sojvold: Impact of future use of electric cars in the Los Angeles region , Volume 2. US Environmental Protection Agency, October 1974, p. 1/6 (accessed April 6, 2012).
  3. ↑ Title ??? . In: Rubber & Technical Press (Ed.): The Rubber and Plastics Age . 49, London, 1968, p. 1048.
  4. ↑ a b Electric Cars . In: Automobile Quarterly . 31, No. 1, 1992.
  5. ↑ a b c Next: the Voltswagon? . In: Time Magazine, Business Section . December 22, 1967. Retrieved April 6, 2012.
  6. ↑ Sheldon R. Shacket: The complete book of electric vehicles . Domus Books, 1979, p. 28.
  7. ^ A b W. Stevenson Bacon: New breed of batteries pack more power . In: Popular Science . 192, No. 2, February 1968, pp. 90-93, 206. Retrieved April 6, 2012.
  8. ↑ a b James Grahame: 1968: AMC's Amazing Amitron Electric Car . Retro Thing: vintage gadgets and technology. September 22, 2008. Retrieved April 6, 2012.
  9. ^ Bob Brant: Build Your Own Electric Vehicle . McGraw-Hill Professional, 1993, ISBN 0-8306-4231-5 , p. 63.
  10. ^ A b Woodrow W. Clark, Grant Cooke: Global Energy Innovation: Why America Must Lead . ABC-CLIO, 2011, ISBN 978-0-313-39721-9 , p. 140 (accessed April 6, 2012).
  11. ^ Robert Bryce: Power Hungry: The Myths of "Green" Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future . PublicAffairs, 2011, ISBN 978-1-58648-953-3 (Accessed April 6, 2012).
  12. ↑ Seth Fletche: Bottled Lightning: Super Batteries, Electric Cars, and the New Lithium Economy . Hill & Wang, 2011, ISBN 978-0-8090-3053-8 , p. 80 (Accessed April 6, 2012).
  13. ↑ John W. Firor: Urban Demands on Natural Resources . University of Denver Press, 1970, p. 2.
  14. ^ AMC's Electric Car . In: Chilton (Ed.): Automotive Industries . 138, 1968, p. 52.

literature

  • Mitch Frumkin, Phil Hall: American Dream Cars: 60 Years of the Best Concept Vehicles . Krause Publications, 2002, ISBN 0-87349-491-1 .
  • Sheldon R. Shacket: The Complete Book of Electric Vehicles . Domus Books, 1979, ISBN 0-89196-019-8 .

Web links