Automobiles Erad (SECMA) - French microcar manufacturer - update 2020 + 2024

[holbeck]

10 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

It was designed as a 'high speed lightweight' industrial engine, in this instance high speed means 3600 rpm(as opposed to the 1500-1800 rpm of the previous generation of aircooled thumpers). at which I think the rated output is nominally 6 hp.

Have you ever driven one?

The Erad AC1R engine was somewhat removed from the bog standard industrial engine though.  A fair bit of development went into it.

I did my apprenticeship there at the time and had the opportunity to drive several of the vehicles we had for development purposes.  I did quite a few test drives with engines rigged with thermocouples.

The Erad engines rotated the opposite way to the standard engine and had a lighter flywheel and automotive governor and fuel pump And therefore a higher output. 

I got involved working in the R&D department on the 4000rpm version of the engine which was undertaken specifically for Erad.  

The article was quite negatively written and we were a little bit disappointed at the time.  

I have actually driven the yellow open car and red car featured with the "MG" in the article  and actually they didn't drive badly at all.

[egg]

They did at least point out the advantages of a possible 90mpg at the time of the '£3 gallon'

[wuvvum]

The thing I found when I had my diesel Ligier though, is that if you drive something like a diesel AX or Corsa at the sort of speeds the Ligier was capable of, you'd get about 90mpg out of those as well - with the ability to go faster if required (which was most of the time).

[egg]

Update 2024....a video in French from 2017 - a visit to the Secma factory in Aniche, the successor brand to ERAD, including ERAD founder M Renard (and probably his son?).

[egg]

It should be noted though, that isn't the original SECMA (and ERAD?) factory - as this was destroyed by fire in 2009....OMG EV FIRE....

https://douai.maville.com/actu/actudet_-Actualite-incendie-de-la-secma-a-aniche-vingt-six-salaries-prives-deleur-outil_-949020_actu.Htm

According to Daniel Renard, the fire was of accidental origin: “  Yesterday (Tuesday) , we did major work on a vehicle intended for the La Poste market. We drove, we put the battery on charge... a lithium battery. It wasn't the first time she was put in charge but there ...". Born from a short circuit or overheating of the battery, the flames gushed out like a “  geyser  ” to spread to the structure of the hall and devour all the vehicles produced and stored in the building.

History does not record if this was Noel Edmunds revenge for the QPOD debacle!! (That's a joke if the beardy man's lawyers are watching) 😆