In occupied France in 1942, when resources were scarce but creativity flourished, a visionary French designer named Paul Arzens created an electric city car that would prove to be decades ahead of its time. His innovative vehicle, nicknamed "The Egg" for its distinctive rounded design, featured impressive range and performance that rivals modern electric vehicles, demonstrating how wartime constraints can spark extraordinary innovation.
Arzens, who studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and had worked on making industrial machinery aesthetically pleasing, particularly in the railway sector, turned wartime shortages into advantages. With gasoline scarce and metal rationed, he designed a small electric car that used minimal metal and aluminum, powered by several batteries weighing 300 kg and an electric motor. The vehicle could travel 62 miles between charges while reaching speeds of 43 mph – performance that exceeded the Citroën 2CV introduced in 1948 and remains respectable for modern city cars like the Citroën Ami.
The genius of Arzens' creation extended far beyond its electric powertrain, as electric vehicles had existed before. What set "The Egg" apart was its sleek, avant-garde, and completely rounded design that earned its distinctive nickname. Faced with metal shortages, Arzens ingeniously used Plexiglas, creating an extraordinarily bright and luminous vehicle that was highly practical for city driving while remaining silent and non-polluting during operation. This innovative use of materials demonstrated how the harshest constraints can inspire the most vivid creativity.
After the war ended and fuel became available again, Arzens converted his egg-shaped vehicle to run on gasoline, equipping it with a 125cc Peugeot engine. He continued using this remarkable vehicle until his death in 1990. Ironically, Peugeot had also created an electric vehicle during the war called the VLV, showing that innovative minds were thinking along similar lines during those challenging times.
Arzens had already demonstrated his visionary capabilities in 1938 when he created "The Whale," a massive convertible with "pontoon" bodywork that preceded commercial reality by a good decade. This wasn't Arzens' first foray into automotive design – The Whale was built on a Buick chassis and featured an ultramodern design that blended fluidity with integrated fenders, showcasing a "pontoon" look that wouldn't become mainstream until much later. The Whale was actually more advanced in its styling than Harley Earl's Buick Y-Job concept, though Earl would later become the legendary chief of GM design.
While Arzens didn't pursue automotive design further, instead focusing on railway transportation, this shift didn't diminish the importance of his creations. His contributions to French transportation infrastructure were enormous – he was responsible for designing much of the rolling stock for SNCF (French National Railway Company) and RATP (Paris public transport authority). The famous BB locomotives, particularly the distinctive "broken nose" designs, and the CC series were his creations. The front ends of metro trains from the 1960s and 70s bore his design signature, as did the first RER (regional express network) trains.
Millions of people have benefited from Arzens' talent throughout their daily lives, as his designs helped beautify their commutes and travel experiences. His work represents a perfect example of how innovative design thinking, born from necessity and constraint, can create solutions that remain relevant and inspiring decades later. Paul Arzens proved that true visionary design transcends immediate circumstances and continues to influence and benefit society long after its creation.
