Going green and electric driving is rapidly gaining popularity, but that wasn’t always the case. Celebrities are often pioneers who begin to identify the trends in popular culture that are becoming mainstream today. George Clooney has been instrumental in helping electric cars go from being a rare exotic to a popular choice. He was one of the first celebrities to drive an electric car, and his choice of vehicles may surprise you.
Electric cars have been around for longer than you think
We’ve been driving petrol vehicles for a long time and it’s easy to assume that’s always been the case. The horse came first, then the cart, then the gasoline car, then the electric car. However, this is not actually the case.
The Department of Energy reports that electric vehicles are more than 100 years old. It all started in the 19th century when a series of inventors, car makers, and even blacksmiths decided that electricity was the way to go. Progress has been made in Hungary, the Netherlands and the United States
The French and the English were the first to make an electric car that worked well enough to drive in the second half of the nineteenth century. America then began producing electric cars in 1890. William Morrison, a chemist from Des Moines, Iowa, is credited with making an electric car that could reach speeds of 14 miles per hour.
By 1900, people were taking electric taxis, and a third of the vehicles on the road were electric. Electric cars were fashionable choices among women.
However, things took a turn for the worse when the Model T came along. It may have smelled more, extracted more pollution, and was a pain to drive, but it was cheap and widely available. This helped end EV until a few years ago when George Clooney decided to give one of them a run.
George Clooney’s first electric car was weird
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-hDp5baA14
Just as we think electric cars are relatively new, many of us also assume that Tesla started the electric car revolution. Despite this, one of the original companies that took significant steps toward a renewed interest in electric vehicles was Commuter Cars.
In 2005, Clooney decided to purchase the Tango T600, which officially made him the first celebrity to go all-green. Auto Evolution reported that he was spotted driving.
This was supposed to inspire others to buy the Tango T600, but that wasn’t quite the case. While Clooney undoubtedly helped start the electric car revolution, no one was rushing to buy the Tango T600, which is why.
This is not the type of car you want to meet your date in
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To boost sales, Commuter Cars referred to Tango as a “chick magnet.” It’s a little hard to imagine considering it’s so small, there’s hardly enough room for the driver. If you have a date and can’t find something besides Tango to drive, you’ll probably have to put your date on the surface.
This is because Tango was only 39 inches wide. This does not leave much room for the battery, so it was placed under the floorboard.
Other sales pitches included “better crashability than any production car.” Another claim was that Tango could go from 0 to 60 in “about four seconds”.
While there is undoubtedly a market for small cars, not even Clooney can make Tango happen. This had a lot to do with the price. Kit costs about $100,000. Add volume, and Tango didn’t get enough dance partners to start production, despite a good deal of advertising on the part of Commuter Cars.
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