GM's 1969 XP 512E: Tiny EV, 58-Mile Range

Jalopnik reports that GM's first all-electric passenger car was not the EV1. That title belongs to the 1969 XP 512E concept, a tiny city car built for GM's Progress of Power exhibition at the company's Technical Center in Warren, Michigan.

The XP 512E, officially the 512 Electric Experimental, measured 86.3 inches long and 56 inches wide on a 52-inch wheelbase. That made it a foot shorter and 3 inches narrower than a first-generation Smart Fortwo, and about 250 pounds lighter at 1,250 pounds. A fiberglass body and a weight-saving 84-volt lead-acid battery pack helped keep it light.

Its range was small by today's standards. Jalopnik says the car managed a maximum 58 miles at 25 mph, and that dropped to 47 miles if you pushed it to its 30 mph top speed. Reaching that top speed took about 12 seconds from a rear-mounted DC motor. A 115-volt household outlet could recharge the batteries in roughly 7 hours.

Inside, the XP 512E was basic: one bench seat, a heater/defroster and an ashtray. Its party piece was a canopy that tilted backward, plus a lower front door that opened in the style of a BMW Isetta. Mechanix Illustrated's Tom McCahill drove one and called it "quite smooth," according to Jalopnik.

Jalopnik says the 512E was one of three concepts wearing the XP 512 name. Another, the 512H, was GM's first plug-in hybrid, more than 40 years before the Chevy Volt. It paired a 200-cc gasoline engine with a DC electric motor and a 72-volt lead-acid battery pack; the engine could drive the wheels and generate electricity at the same time. It ran on electricity alone up to 10 mph and could cover more than five miles on battery power at 30 mph. On three gallons of gas, it could travel about 150 miles.

The third concept, according to Jalopnik, was the gas-only 512G. Its 19-cubic-inch two-cylinder made 12 horsepower, took 18 seconds to reach 30 mph and topped out at 45 mph, but it delivered about 280 miles from a 4-gallon tank, or 70 mpg.

The 512E's numbers matter as a baseline. A small EV's tradeoffs, range versus speed and a long overnight charge, were already on GM's test track more than 50 years ago.

• concept cars
• electric vehicles
• GM
• history
• Progress of Power
• XP 512E