Clive Sinclair recognised for its importance in the early days of the British home computer industry. Sinclair Research also produced the TV80, a flatscreen portable mini television utilising an ingenious cathode ray tube however, LCD television technology was in advanced development and the Sinclair FTV1 (TV80) was a commercial flop, only 15,000 units being produced. Knighted in 1983, Sinclair formed Sinclair Vehicles and released the Sinclair C5, a battery electric vehicle that was also a commercial failure. Since then Sinclair has concentrated on personal transport, including the A-bike, a folding bicycle for commuters that weighs and folds down small enough to be
Sinclair C5 dry in the vehicle's open cockpit. Other accessories included seat cushions and spare batteries. Sir Clive Sinclair's interest in the possibilities of electric vehicles originated in the late 1950s during a holiday job for the electronics company Solatron. Fifteen years later, in the early 1970s, he was the head of his own successful electronics company, Sinclair Radionics, based in St Ives in Cambridgeshire. He tasked one of his employees, Chris Curry – later a co-founder of Acorn Computers – to carry out some preliminary research into electric vehicle design. Sinclair took the view that an electric vehicle needed to be