Not Much of a Car: The Autoette
/To call the Autoette a car is a bit optimistic. This tiny 3-wheel electric vehicle was developed just before World War II by Robert Tafel, an electrical engineer from Long Beach, California. He meant it to be used mainly as a wheelchair for polio sufferers and retirees, of which Long Beach apperently had fair number at the time. During wartime, they were used by the military to move materiel around local warehouses quickly without using any precious gasoline. After the war, an entrepreneur named Royce Seevers began making them for public consumption under the Autoette trade name.
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In 1953, Seever’s business was acquired by Wayne Industries. Whether this was the same Wayne Industries that funded Batman in his quest to clean up the streets of Gotham City is not clear. They did however make street sweepers, among other civic minded equipment, so who knows. At any rate, the image of quiet carts humming along clean suburban streets must have seemed appealingly synergistic to the folks at Wayne Industries.
Autoettes used a proprietary motor powered by a couple of large 24-volt batteries. They delivered 35 miles of range and top speed of 12 mph. The upright 3-wheelers were steered via tiller, and thus vigorous cornering at that top speed was not advised.
The model range expanded to include the basic Golfmobile, 2 and 4 passenger Cruiseabouts, and a ¼-ton truck for utility use. The carts came from the factory equipped with little more than a body and seats. Luxuries like windshields, doors, roofs and headlights were dealer installed options.
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The Seevers family reacquired the rights to the Autoette in 1958, and continued selling them into the 1970s. Sales records are not forthcoming but likely to have been in the several hundreds.
Copyright@2021 by Mal Pearson
Sources and Further Reading
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Long Beach Post 12/3/2018. Electric Cars Before They Were Cool, by Tom Grobaty