Sinclair Vehicles Sinclair Vehicles Sinclair Vehicles Ltd was a company formed in March 1983 by Sir Clive Sinclair as a focus for his work in the field of electric vehicles. The initial investment was £8.6m, which came from the proceeds of the sale of some of Sir Clive's shares in Sinclair Research. Barrie Wills, formerly of the DeLorean Motor Company, was appointed as managing director. The first (and only) Sinclair Vehicles production model was the single-seater Sinclair C5, launched on 10 January 1985. Larger models were planned, including the C15, a four-seater car capable of speeds of up to . The generally
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