This vehicle represents an early attempt to make an Australian electric powered van suitable for short range deliveries. In the early 1980s, it formed part of an extensive development plan by the Energy Authority of New South Wales to identify and analyse problems relating to the use of electric vehicles. The short range of the electric car was at that time still many years from being seriously addressed but was not as limiting a factor for an urban delivery van.

Electric motor cars have major advantages in regard to greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on oil-based fuels in the context of the depletion of this unrenewable resource. World governments and corporations have therefore committed billions of dollars to fund the development of an electric motor car industry.

This is one of many Suzuki ST90 petrol-driven light vans to be converted in 1980 by the Silent Power Company Pty Ltd of Alexandria, NSW, to electric operation. The conversion was developed with assistance from an American company, which provided some of the electrical equipment.

In 1980 the Silent Power Company Pty Ltd of Alexandria, NSW, converted a number of Suzuki ST90 petrol-driven light vans to electric operation. The conversion was developed with help from an American company, which provided some of the electrical equipment. This particular vehicle was purchased by the Energy Authority of New South Wales in July 1981 for $12 000 as a prototype for a research and evaluation programme of electric motor cars. Extensive laboratory and road testing was carried out to demonstrate the capabilities of a variety of prototype electric systems. In 1985, following this program, The Energy Authority donated the van to the Museum.

In summary, the Energy AuthorityÂ?s evaluation concluded that the car that could be replaced by an electric vehicle would belong to a multi-car household, travel 40 km or less per day and less than 10,000 km a year. At the time only about 11% of households in capital cities would fulfil these criteria.

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Battery powered electric cars were developed in the 1890s and by year 1900 they exceeded the number of petrol powered cars for motorised personal transport. However, the electric car soon declined in relative numbers, largely due to the ready availability of cheap petrol. In the following decades, only economic depression and wartime checked the rapid growth of petrol powered motoring. The relatively sudden arrival of the energy crisis in 1973, the formation of OPEC and subsequent rises in the price of oil heralded a new age of interest in the electric car. In retrospect several of the known drawbacks, such as poor performance, slow speed and high initial cost were being overcome, but to actually replace the combustion engine with an electric motor would require a major break-through in battery technology.

Automobile, electric power, Silent Power Company Pty Ltd, Australia

The vehicle is in good condition and complete with headlights, indicator and parking lights at the front and brake, indicator and reflector lights at the rear. It has a wrap-around bumper front and rear, two sliding front doors and lift-up rear door, two side mirrors and two side indicator lights, two windscreen wipers for the front windscreen, radio aerial, front and rear mudflaps, spare tyres and factory radio. It is finished in duck egg blue. The odometer reading was 06500.3km when acquired.

All Suzuki name plates have been replaced with the "Silent Power" logo or with "Silent Power"
plates.

Specifications:

Ground Clearance 170 mm
Gross Vehicle Mass 1420 kg
Unladen Mass 1318 kg

Major Electrical Components:

Motor Prestolite DC series
Rated 17.0 kW, 96 V, 210 A, 4200 rpm

Controller Prestolite, thyristor chopper without regeneration,
rated 100 V DC, 250A, continuous current limit 200 A

Auxiliary Supply Sigma Elektroteknisk A/S DC/DC converter
rated 96/12 Volts DC

Batteries Traction: 16 Oldham, Cat 3KQ11, 6V 160Ah 5h rate, lead acid, series connected, mass
29.0 kg each


Charger Traction Batteries: Silent Power, constant voltage type
(2 rate)
Supply: 240 V AC, 50 Hz, 10.0 A max.
Output: 135 V DC, 13.0A (rate 1), 5.5 A (rate 2)

Transmission:

Clutch Dry, single disc

Gears 4 forward (synchromesh), 1 reverse
1st 3.428:1
2nd 2.108:1
3rd 1.379:1
4th 1.000:1
Reverse 3.600:1
Differential 5.125:1

Steering:

Turning Diameter 7.6 m
Recirculating ball-and-nut type

Wheels and Suspension:

Tyres Yokohama steel radial 145R12-6PR
Pressure 180 kPa front, 280 kPa rear

Suspension Front Macpherson strut type
Rear rigid axle, telescopic shock absorbers

85/301

1660 mm

1395 mm

3195 mm

1420 kg