Helecs was a marque of British battery-electric road vehicles, produced initially by the electrical engineers Hindle Smart Co Ltd of Ardwick, Manchester from 1948 onwards.

Hindle Smart and Co. Ltd. was an electrical engineering company initially based at 20 Wilmslow Road Withington, south Manchester,[1] and then in the late 1940s in Ardwick, at 27a New Bank Street.

[7] After the Second World War, Jensen Motors of West Bromwich, near Birmingham, made a small petrol-engined articulated lorry, called the Jen-Tug, which was used primarily by railway companies for local deliveries at goods depots.

It was controlled by a foot-operated pedal, and was supplied with a selenium metal rectifying charger unit, which incorporated a cut-out relay to disconnect the battery once it was fully charged.

[8] In early 1949, a Mr Edward E Grant joined the company, who had previously worked for Partridge Wilson Engineering in Leicester, manufacturers of charging equipment for accumulators, and also their own range of battery-electric road vehicles.

Grant's role was to develop the Hindle Smart electric vehicles, which Commercial Motor listed as the Helecs, the Jen-Helecs, and the Wilson.

[13] At the 1949 Dairy Show, held at Olympia in October, Hindle Smart showcased the Tough Ten model, which was fitted with a van body and carried a payload of 10 cwt.

[14] Brush had entered the market for battery electric road vehicles in 1945, having bought designs and manufacturing rights from Metropolitan Vickers.

[16] The Company and Robert Smart jointly obtained a patent in 1950, number GB639521, for an improved method of controlling the charging of batteries, particularly those used in electric vehicles.

[18] In August 1951 the managing director, Mr Noel Hindle, travelled to Holland where demonstrations of the Intruder had generated interest in the vehicles.

[19] Improvements to the design of the Intruder, to produce a Series II model, were made in time for it to be exhibited at the October 1951 Dairy Show.

A total of five contactors with automatic sequencing gave four forward or reverse speeds, and the direction of travel selected was indicated by red and green lights on the dashboard.

[23] Helecs received a second order for seven vehicles, a mixture of Tough Ten and Intruder models, from their agent in Toronto, Canada in August 1952.

[24] At the 1952 Commercial Motor show, they displayed a new model called the Endeavour, which was a general purpose vehicle designed for a payload of 30 cwt.

A new feature was the Elexmatic power-unit, which provided a steady rate of acceleration by means of a carbon compression cylinder with a spring-loaded piston.

[27] Helecs claimed that the Elexmatic controller enabled the battery size, and hence weight, to be reduced by one third, without compromising the range of the vehicle.

It included a pedestal seat for use when driving between the depot and the start of the delivery round, and an Elexmatic Pack controller, to allow a smaller size of battery to be used.

[33] They also announced that they had produced a new type of electrically operated clutch, and there was some speculation that they were developing a delivery vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine.

[40] A further three notices appeared on 8 May, again signed by Hindle, stating that resolutions had been passed to wind up the companies on 10 April, and that Mr Harold Beattie of York Street, Manchester had been appointed as the liquidator.

[41] Finally, four notices appeared in the London Gazette in October 1957, announcing general meetings to hear how the liquidator had disposed of the assets of the various companies.

[42] One of the Lewis Electruk lookalikes, the chassis of which was built by Helecs Vehicles, is on display at The Transport Museum, Wythall, near Birmingham.