Beta - 1998-1999 Soliad Electron NiMH

Despite being badged as a Soliad, the Electron EV was never sold in Soliad dealerships. It was always sold in Redstone dealerships. This move was done as Redstone didn’t have any cars that stood out. They only sold compact sedans, wagons and, coupes that were meant to take on foreign cars. Bruckell thought that the Electron EV would be more fitting if it was sold in Redstone dealerships. And, they could also be serviced at Redstone dealerships just in case if something went wrong. It didn’t make sense to why it was sold and serviced in Redstone dealerships. But, you have to remember that the Soliad dealerships weren’t trained to sell EVs yet. EVs were a new thing back then and Redstone employees were known for being tech-savvy. So yeah, Bruckell made the right choice. The Soliad Lansdale eVan which was Soliad’s only other EV that they made at the time was never sold in dealerships as it was sold exclusively to fleet markets. The Bruckell Scarborough Electric was also only sold to fleet markets. Thus, the Soliad Electron is the only one of the three to be sold aka. leased to consumers.

In 1998, the 2nd generation of the Soliad Electron replaced the older lead-acid batteries with nickel-metal hydride batteries and they weighed less than the older batteries themselves. The advantage of using NiMH batteries over lead-acid ones is that they get better range and could potentially charge faster. Earlier Electrons had a range of 78 miles whereas the ones that use NiMH batteries got a range of nearly 150 miles. This was before the revised regulations came into change and the ranges were eventually changed in 2019. In 2019, both versions were re-tested and the lead-acid Electrons had a range of 56 miles whereas the NiMH Electrons had a range of 107 miles. Still nowhere near as good as what modern EVs can pull off.

In 1999, the Soliad Electron was discontinued alongside the Soliad Lansdale eVan. However, support for them still continued up until 2003. In 2003, Bruckell, transported nearly all of the Soliad Electrons, Soliad Lansdale eVans and, the Bruckell Scarborough EVs to be crushed. There was a conspiracy going on that this was done as an effort by oil companies to keep electric vehicles off the road and some say that Bruckell also did this to prevent using these vehicles for spare parts. The Magnetica charging stations were also decommissioned. However, 50 Bruckell Electrons and a small number of Bruckell Scarborough EVs and Soliad Lansdale eVans did survive and some even ended up with private collectors.

One of the Soliad Electrons were hidden by a famous news person that wanted to keep her’s and even worked hard to restore it and show it off to the public many years later. It is unknown if that Electron is fully-working or not. Most Soliad Electrons were deactivated and Bruckell agreed that they would never be used on the road again and only used for research purposes. One however was fully intact and was kept on display in the Smithsonian. It was also coloured in silver as they are one of the more common colours of the surviving electrons. Only about 2 of the surviving Electrons were coloured in blue and they are sought-after by car collectors.

Bruckell eventually learned from their mistakes and realized that there was a market for EVs when the first consumer-grade EV convertible was first made in 2008 and in 2011, Bruckell made the Bruckell Zeus EV which would later go one to be their best-selling EV and the best-selling vehicle in the Bruckell Revival Era. The Zeus even outlasted the Bruckell Revival Era as that era came to an end in 2012 and it was still being made up until 2019. The Zeus also adopted the standard EV charger and is the first Bruckell product to do so. In 2016, a more affordable EV known as the Bruckell Aethon is made and actually outsold the Zeus. If it hadn’t been for the Electron, neither of those vehicles would’ve existed.

The Soliad Electron is amongst the first EV to use the now-obsolete Magnetica Charging Standard. Bruckell worked alongside NodeOLine to manufacture the chargers themselves. The whole idea of the Magnetica chargers is that they are tested so that they would work even when it’s raining. A lot of work has been done to make sure the Magnetica chargers are up to Bruckell’s standards. Other vehicles began adopting the Magnetica Charging Standard including the Bruckell Scarborough Electric, Soliad Lansdale eVan, the Ibishu Prodigy EV and, the Ibishu Kashira EV.

Not all vehicles used this charging standard, however. The SiloTec Charging Standard was also produced alongside it and vehicles like the Gavril D250 EV, Hirochi CEV, Hirochi SunRunner EV as well as several others all used it. The Magnetica Charging Standard was made obsolete in 2003 when all of the vehicles that used it were discontinued by then. Unlike the SiloTec Charging Standard, the Magnetica Charging Standard uses inductive technology rather than the more commonly-used conductive coupling seen in several electric vehicles. Ironically enough, the Magnetica Charging Standard was rejected in favour of the standard EV chargers themselves. Nearly all Magnetica chargers were decommissioned in 2003. Although, some are still active and a few have ended up with collectors while a few other intact ones are stored in museums. Starting with the 2006 model year, the use of the SiloTec Charging Standard was mandated and became the basis for the standard EV charger that we now know today and every company has used that standard.