Miguel Sánchez
On April 1, 1939, the Spanish Civil War formally ended. Defined by three years marked by the human and material destruction, this not only left a devastated industrial situation but also a large number of technical staff exiled or, directly, murdered.
This being the case, getting the country's economy back on track was not going to be an easy task even leaving aside the intense ideological debate. Debate that, by the way, was especially intense during those first days of the Franco regime; with factions as contrary to each other as the Falangist or the liberal-monarchist trying to share the shares of power within the so-called National Movement.
However, the end of the civil strife gave rise to rebuilding the productive fabric. A process where the state would play an essential role, coordinating efforts and making investments through public entities such as the National Institute of Industry. Ultimately, and as is well known, the person most responsible for the creation of SEAT.
Likewise, the dictatorship born after the coup d'état of July 1936 showed excellent relations with Nazi Germany or fascist Italy. Obviously, two great powers in relation to the automotive sector, getting muscle both in the manufacture of commercial vehicles and passenger cars or, of course, sensational used sports cars as political propaganda.
In short, although torn and impoverished, the economic situation of the Franco regime had real signs of improvement. However, just a few months after the end of the Civil War, on September 1 from that same 1939, Hitler began World War II with the invasion of Poland.
This fact is responsible for leaving Spain in the middle of a global conflict under which, of course, the necessary economic recovery would be seriously compromised.
THE FUEL COMMISSIONER STATION
Thanks to the alliance with Nazis and fascists, the Falangist ideologues had large areas of influence during those first days of Francoism. Due to this, the concept of autarchy It was fanatically imposed in a country that, far from closing its markets to the world, desperately needed international investment and cooperation.
Of course, beyond the political concerns, the truth is that the geopolitical reality imposed the closing of economic borders on post-war Spain. Something especially obvious regarding the fuels; essential to feed the future reconstruction of the primary and secondary sectors.
To begin with, Franco's alliance with the Axis powers made it very difficult to acquire fossil fuels in the Anglo-Saxon markets. At that time, main suppliers thanks, among other things, to the control exercised by the United Kingdom in the Middle East.
Furthermore, the war effort undertaken by Germany and Italy made it very difficult, if not impossible, to supply fuel from them. With all this, products like gasoline began to be so necessary as coveted in that Spain that, if we may be allowed to be banal, reminded us of a kind of national-Catholic Mad Max.
A very complex context where the little fuel that arrived in the country - mainly purchased in the United States under the supervision of its government - was rationed by the Fuel Police Station. An administrative body created on June 8, 1940 and, overall, essential in order to understand the economy of Spain under the Second World War.
THE RESOURCE OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Under that context of scarcity regarding fossil fuels, various companies began to explore new options in terms of mobility. Thanks to this, initiatives such as the producer They became very popular, taking advantage of the heating power of waste gases in the internal combustion of the engine. A kind of -almost- closed circuit to which thousands of cars were converted during the Spanish post-war period.
However, even though it was an interesting saving method, it still required fuel. For this reason, some other inventors explored the route of electric ones. Scarce, very scarce, but at the same time known at a time that had already seen mass production of this type of automobile by brands such as Detroit electric.
In fact, although the low autonomy of their batteries represented an obvious problem in relation to passenger cars, this was not an obstacle for the manufacture of delivery or construction vans. As necessary for industry and commerce as they are destined to move in such a small radius of action which, in practice, made the question of autonomy irrelevant by always being close to the charging point but even within it.
At this point in Barcelona they thought big with the creation of Autarquía Vehicles SA. A company with a name that is more than eloquent regarding the political context and that, for a few years, produced cargo and delivery vans common in the daily life of the Catalan capital.
Likewise, Norma Electromotor was founded in the Eibar industrial company in 1940. Intended for the assembly of electric motors for small vehicles - especially tricycles for delivery - it partnered with Orbea in order to achieve more massive production. Step through which I was born Electrociclos SA, which was even declared “company of interest” given the socioeconomic circumstances of the moment.
However, the end of the Second World War caused things to return to normal. Furthermore, given the alliance policy of the Cold War, Franco's Spain went from being, in a very few years, a former ally of Nazis and fascists to becoming a a key in American strategy against Soviet interests.
In this way, and even before normalizing relations with the North American administration in 1953, the Franco regime was receiving fuel with increasingly evident ease.
Likewise, the licensing policy - widely used by motorcycling, especially with Italian companies - led to the appearance in Spain of quite a few single cylinder engines with two strokes capable of clearly surpassing what was presented by any electric car of the time.
In short, initiatives like Electrociclos SA stopped making sense; What's more, it even offered its vehicles with Iresa and Mosquito combustion engines before its definitive closure. A story mayfly and little documented that, however, illustrates how the appearance of electric vehicles is not something as new as one might think.
Images: Archive of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa.
