Home TechnologyTech News The Kalashnikov CV-1 was meant to kill Tesla and impress Putin — but where is it?

The Kalashnikov CV-1 was meant to kill Tesla and impress Putin — but where is it?

The Kalashnikov CV-1 was meant to kill Tesla and impress Putin — but where is it?

It’s not uncommon in the tech world for new product concepts to never make it to reality. A sizeable number of ideas never even see the light of day and remain the cosseted secrets of boardrooms around the world.

In other cases though, companies are very keen to tell the world before the idea, concept, and prototypes drift off into nothingness and exist only in the annals of history.

Today, I want to rearrange the annals and remind you all about a little forgotten gem from Russia: the CV-1 electric car. Supposedly made by weapons maker, Kalashnikov.

With an economy heavily reliant on oil and gas, Russia and low-emission vehicles don’t go hand in hand. There aren’t many popular brands to have come out of the country, either.

[Read: 5 things to know when you’re buying your first electric vehicle]

But the CV-1 was moment, a spark of light in Russian history, which made us think that the future might be different and that the country would go on to make a fast and exciting electric car that looked like nothing capitalism could ever produce.

Credit: Kalashnikov