Cedre

Cedre was François Guerbet's determined attempt to make a practical urban electric vehicle with the limited lead-acid technology of the 1970s. Guerbet reasoned that an electric car could not simultaneously match a petrol car's performance and range, but a very light three-wheeler limited to roughly 50 km/h, carrying about 200 kg of batteries and a 120 kg payload, might cover useful city distances. His first 1974 prototype was called both Mini 1 and Soubrette; those names identify one vehicle. On 25 April 1975 he presented the developed Midinette at the Paris Concours Lépine/Inventions Fair and established Société Seve-Cedre near Sainte-Croix- or Montesquieu-Volvestre south of Toulouse. CEDRE expanded to Centre d'Études pour le Développement et la Réussite des Entreprises. Initially it operated as an ecologically focused nonprofit association under France's 1901 statute, not a normally capitalized automaker. Funding delays kept the Midinette on the exhibition circuit through Düsseldorf and Brussels and in Paris publicity runs. First customer deliveries finally occurred in September 1978; some references call 1979 the formal start of series production, coinciding with reorganization as Cedre SARL. The one-seat Midinette used a 1.2 kW motor driving its single front wheel, a tubular chassis, polyester/plastic body and a sliding door on the left. It measured 1,800 by 880 mm, reached about 50 km/h and offered roughly 60 km range. Contemporary prices rose from an early 9,540 francs to 14,110 francs at first delivery, close to a basic four-seat Citroën 2CV. A named 5x5 Solaire special was presented during the late-1970s program; incomplete surviving specifications support a show/special row, not a series-production claim. In 1981 the Cedre 1000 replaced the Midinette. It grew to about 2,000 mm but remained essentially a one-seater, offered domestic-socket overnight charging, approximately 40 km/h maximum speed and a claimed 120 km range. Optional roof solar cells could add about 20 km on a sunny day. Its quoted 23,500-franc price again nearly matched an entry 2CV. Technical summaries describe Mini 1000/Midinette 1200 nomenclature and two 500 W, 36 V motors, while the main narrative calls the successor Cedre 1000; the database retains the documented family name and discloses the power-description uncertainty rather than multiplying aliases. A separate source mentions an unnamed 5 kW version, but no defensible model identity survives, so it is recorded as a variant only. Production ended in 1987. No reliable model-by-model or company total is published. Four rows account for every named vehicle program, with prototype, show-special and customer-production status separated. Cedre is distinct from SOVEL, Citroën electric vehicles, modern CEDRE acronyms and unrelated companies.

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