GUERNSEY is back in the motor industry.

It’s almost 100 years since Millard’s made Pacer motorcycles at Bosq Lane.

And it’s more than half a century since Les Le Tissier produced his handful of MVM sports cars at Manor View Motors, near Saumarez Park.

But even before their successful open day, the Electric Vehicle Company had sold orders for 10 of the Smart cars it converts to electric at its Rocquaine premises.

‘They’re split 50:50 between business and individuals,’ said the EVC’s Mark Rive, ‘and one of the businesses is Guernsey Electricity.’

A combination of holidays and production factors means I am writing this just a few days after its open day so there has been little opportunity for open-day interest to be converted into sales.

But there have been plenty of longer demonstrations. The day was so busy that demo drives were kept short to get as many as possible behind the wheel.

At least it meant the demo car got the chance to show its range, covering 72 miles on one charge before demonstrations had to stop.

The new cars should offer a much-improved driving experience over the demonstrator, a prototype that has been taken apart and put back together again over the past couple of years more than any car deserves.

For starters, the company is converting only new Smarts and these will come with heater– the prototype lost its heat source when the engine was taken out – and quieter, rubber-mounted pumps to servo the brakes.

The prototype is quite noisy.

In addition, the new conversions retain the standard gear lever, require the footbrake to be applied before they can be switched from forward to reverse and feature a lock-out to prevent them being driven off while plugged in on charge.

EVC has considered getting ‘glider’ cars – that’s minus the engine – but it is much easier to get driveable cars shipped ro-ro into the island.

And there is a market for the engines.

It seems that Smart rolling chassis and gearboxes last longer than their original motors.

EVC retain the Smart’s gearbox, which is fixed in second and then hooked up to the drive train developed by the company in conjunction with a Californian one.

The efficiency of that drive train and the lithium ion nano battery pack allows the EVC Smart to offer its useful range.

And there are no braking or crash safety issues with the conversion as it takes the weight of the car to only about the same as a standard car with a full tank of petrol.

This helps make it possible for Smart to stand by the warranty on its bits – subject to annual servicing – while EVC warrant theirs.