Today marks 40 years since the launch of the Sinclair C5, a groundbreaking electric tricycle created by British inventor Sir Clive Sinclair. Although met with a mixed reception in 1985, the innovative vehicle is now recognised as a trailblazer for electric transport. Former Top Gear presenter James May says that the tricycle paved the way for the future of electric transport. Report by Covellm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00It's an electric, electrically assisted pedal tricycle, I think.
00:05What's interesting about it is that although it was a terrible failure
00:09in commercial terms in its own time, I mean, the company had gone bust
00:14in the year it launched it, I think it was actually ahead of its time
00:17in many ways, because I think Sinclair anticipated something
00:21that is very, very fashionable now, which is the electrically assisted
00:24pedal bicycle, which is sort of beginning to revolutionize cycling.
00:29I think the problem for him was that he got the format wrong.
00:31He tried to turn it into, yes, effectively a little, almost pedal car
00:36instead of realizing that the technology should really be applied to a bicycle.
00:40I think his thinking and his vision was fantastic.
00:44Low cost, modest performing,
00:47electrically driven urban transport for one person and a bit of luggage.
00:53He just, as I say, he got the format slightly wrong,
00:56but his vision was spot on.
00:58The EV was a was in a rather sad place in the 80s,
01:02because again, because of the battery tech and so on,
01:04and people just looked down on them as as inferior.
01:08And the car was very much king back then.
01:10I remember everybody was coveting, you know, a hot hatchback
01:13and what have you in 1985.
01:16So I'm not sure that it's that we can really hold the C5
01:20responsible for our current enthusiasm for electric cars.
01:23But I think it did show,
01:26although maybe nobody realized it at the time, that the very simple,
01:29electrically assisted personal transport would be a thing
01:34and was a good idea.
01:35And indeed, we're seeing it now in cities with things like, you know,
01:38delivery cargo bikes with electric assistance.
01:41That's that's basically the technology of a C5, but in a bicycle.