Synopsis
Decades before Elon Musk’s Tesla, little-known car dealer Bob Beaumont launched the first mass-produced, all-electric CitiCar— becoming the sixth largest auto manufacturer in the United States. The year was 1973.
Virtuallly unknown to today’s driver, electrics outsold gas by ten to one in the early 1900s. Delivery trucks, fire engines, taxis were all electric. President McKinley, assassinated, was transported by electric ambulance. Henry Ford bought an electric for his wife Clara after he built the Model T.
Several transportation “first’s” fell to electric vehicles:
The first pedestrian casualty? Electric
The first car dealership? Electric
The first speeding ticket? Electric
The first American auto race? Electric
Amazingly, the patent for the internal combustion engine was held for a short time by an electric vehicle manufacturer.
Today, auto manufacturers gear up for an electric-dominant transportation system. But few realize that it once was dominant. Facing David-and-Goliath odds, Beaumont launched his dream to give America oil independence and a revival of electric cars. With determined enthusiasm, and nothing but lead acid batteries and relay switches, he tried to ignite an automotive revolution. With his last car—the Tropica—a classy safe sporty car, pictured above with Bob Beaumont and Bella Erakko, he almost made his dream a reality.
The Lost Cord tells the quirky history of the rise, fall, hidden life and revival of the electric car… and the people behind the journey.