Insulated drive vacuum interrupter

A vacuum interrupter including a vacuum bottle, a fixed contact extending through one end of the vacuum bottle and a movable contact positioned within the vacuum bottle relative to the fixed contact so that a gap is defined between the fixed contact and the movable contact when the vacuum interrupter is open and the fixed contact and the movable contact are in contact with each other when the vacuum interrupter is closed. An insulated drive rod is rigidly coupled to the movable contact opposite to the fixed contact and a circular flexible conductor is coupled to the movable contact and flexes when the movable contact is moved by the drive rod. The flexible conductor can be, for example, a laminate structure including a plurality of stacked conductive laminates each having a plurality of spirals separated by gaps or a linear spring trampoline conductor.