Two Enfield 8000 electric vehicles have been installed outside the historic Neorion factory on the island of Syros, reviving a largely forgotten chapter in Greece’s industrial, and automotive, history.

Developed in the early1970s by Enfield Automotive, a British firm owned at the time by Greek shipping magnate Giannis Goulandris, the Enfield 8000 was designed by a team of Greek and British engineers led by Constantine Adraktas, who served as Chairman and Managing Technical Director of the company.

Touted as the first modern, widely produced electric car, production was brought by Mr. Goulandris, and his newly established company Enfield-Neorion, to Syros.

Despite being Greek-made, the vehicles never circulated on Greek roads due to licensing issues related to EVs. Production of the Enfield 8000 was aimed for export, primarily to the UK. 65 of the 124 total vehicles made were used by the UK’s Electricity Council and electricity boards in the south of England, some as as late as 1990.

Dimitris Stavrakopoulos, founder of Hermoupolis Heritage, non-profit organization based in Syros which aims to save and restore the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the island, brought two of these rare EVs back to the very factory they were made in.

One of the EVs is reportedly the only model ever to bear Greek license plates—but these are not the only Enfield 8000s in Syros. In an interview in Greek state TV, Stavrakopoulos noted that seven of these cars still remained on the island.

The two EVs are currently exhibited outdoors near the Enfield 8000’s former factory grounds for the duration of the summer, but there is an effort to establish a permanent open-air industrial heritage installation in coordination with the Syros Industrial Museum.

The Enfield 8000 also recently represented Greece at a European Parliament exhibition in Brussels, where member states presented historic vehicles to highlight their cultural and technological heritage.

Cover Photo Credit: Angelos Giotopoulos