What's so special about the world's smallest electric car?

Made in Italy, the Elcar is built simply for city driving at low speeds.

Zagato - a famous Italian racing training and design company, has always been known for its GT sports and racing cars.

In North America, the model was known as the Elcar.

In the late 60s and early 70s, the Zagato car design market was dominated by competitors with low-cost models and simple designs. This forced Zagato to aim for a whole new segment and the company debuted the Zele electric car at the 1972 Geneva International Motor Show. In the North American market, the model was known as the Elcar.

Features of Zagato Elcar

Zagato Elcar has 3 versions of 1,000, 1,500 and 2,000 respectively with the capacity of electric motors. All three versions were two-door rear-wheel drive and were produced between 1974 and 1976. About 500 were built during that time.

Zagato Elcar has 3 versions 1,000, 1,500 and 2,000.

The numbers 1000, 1500 and 2000 indicate the power of the Marelli direct-drive electric motor. The 1000 variant is powered by 4 12V batteries with an operating range of 80 km per full charge. Some versions have up to 8 12V batteries.

The battery is charged by the simple process of plugging into the mains via a transformer. The Elcar is simply built for city driving at low speeds. It's smaller than the all-new Nissan Sakura electric Kei car, with seating for two passengers and some cargo space.

The Elcar is simply built for city driving at low speeds.

The 2000 variant comes with a turbocharger switch designed to starve the engine's magnetic field at top speed, the Elcar 2000 offers a top speed of 40 to 48 km/h.

Zele has many attractive colors such as red-orange, brown, dark blue, pastel blue, white, green.

Zagato Elcar measures 213 cm long, 134 cm wide and 160 inches tall. It has a weight of 494 kg.

How much does Zagato Elcar cost?

Zele electric scooters are very affordable.

The minimalist approach helps keep the Zele affordable, making it possibly the cheapest Zagato-designed car.

A yellow Zagato Zele 1000 sold for $14,029.25 at an RM Sotheby's London auction in 2018.