Everyone remembers the Tesla electric car launched into space by Elon Musk, but it is far from the first car to leave Earth. Before it, there was the Lunar Roving Vehicle or simply Rover. 
These days humanity is celebrating the half-century anniversary of the landing of American astronauts on the Moon. During subsequent missions, electric cars called the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) were brought to the Moon. 
Rover cars have nothing in common with this technological marvel.
The lunar vehicle was jointly developed by General Motors and Boeing. The creators tried to make the LRV as simple as possible. In essence, the Lunar Roving Vehicle is a two-seater cart with four 0.25-hp electric motors (one per wheel). The total horsepower is 1 hp, and the maximum speed is 14 km/h. 
The Lunar Rover weighed 210 kg, but was able to carry a total of 490 kg of cargo.
A zinc-silver battery of 8.7 kWh provided a driving range of 90 km. However, astronauts were forbidden to move further from the landing module than 7.5 km, so that in case of LRV failure, they could return on foot. 
The Rover featured several interesting technical solutions. All four wheels rotate, resulting in a turning diameter of only 3 m. The tires were fitted with special aluminum meshes with titanium treads to avoid punctures.
The LRV also had one of the first navigation systems displaying the location of the electric car itself and the landing module. 
A total of four LRVs were built, and the overall cost of the program amounted to 38 million dollars ($260 million at today’s rates). The Rover was first sent to the Moon as part of the Apollo 15 mission in 1971, and then electric cars were used by the Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 crews in 1972. In total, the three electric cars covered 91.7 km on the lunar surface. All of them remain there, with the last Lunar Rover even filming the lunar module take off with astronauts.
Photo and video: NASA