The electric trike that met a British January

The great idea

A new 1983 law said a light tricycle with pedals and a small electric motor could count as an electrically assisted pedal cycle. That meant anyone aged 14 or over could drive one with no licence, road tax, compulsory insurance or helmet.

The C5 was built to fit. It was designed by Sinclair, developed and tested by Lotus, and built at Hoover’s plant in Merthyr Tydfil. At the launch Sir Clive called it “the first stage on the road to an electric car”, and Sinclair expected to build “well in excess of 100,000” in 1985.

What actually happened

It was launched at Alexandra Palace in north London, among steep hills and lying snow. Test machines at the launch gave out halfway up Muswell Hill, and Stirling Moss was stranded when his died on a hill nearby.

The AA’s test gave a typical range of ten miles, about half the claim; on a cold day the battery went flat after 6.5 miles. In May 1985 Sinclair admitted that 6,000 were unsold, twice the figure previously disclosed.

In August Hoover stopped work on the C5, and on 12 October 1985 the company, renamed TPD Ltd the month before, went into receivership owing about £700,000 to 110 suppliers. How many were sold depends on whom you ask, from 4,500 to fewer than 17,000; the factual site’s myths page has that, and the washing-machine motor.

Where it went wrong

Timing, for a start. Sir Clive later admitted January had not been the best time to launch, as the batteries tended to give up in cold weather; Sinclair’s spokesman said they lost 8 to 10 per cent of their efficiency at zero degrees.

Nobody asked the customers. Hagerty says Sinclair did almost no market research, relying on Sir Clive’s belief that the market was there, and still planned on “well in excess of 100,000” in the first year.

It was very low, and not very quick. In government tests lorry drivers couldn’t see a standard C5 just in front of the cab, though by night it was relatively easy to see. The AA recorded a top running speed of 12.5 mph, and with the extras RoSPA called essential, Sinclair User put the real cost at about £600.

What changed

Many unsold C5s were eventually sold for less than a fifth of the original price. In 1996 Maurice Levensohn said he had sold nearly 7,000, at up to £700 each, and by then many resold C5s had gone to the Netherlands, where they suited the flat cycle paths.

Sir Clive tried again with the Zike electric bike in 1992; by May 1993 its makers were stopping production.

The C5 itself has had a long afterlife. Enthusiasts still repair the survivors, which remain road legal from the age of 14, and in 2025 the Festival of the Unexceptional marked the 40th anniversary. Hagerty notes that the 15 mph limit it was built round still shapes the top speed of electric bicycles today.

The department’s view: the lesson is less “bad idea” than “ask a few customers first, and wait for spring”.