Electric cars are not new!

That’s right I said it. Electric cars aren’t a new phenomena. In 1899 90% of New York City’s taxi cabs were electric vehicles. These cabs were built by the Electric Carriage and Wagon Company of Philadelphia.

Furthermore, in 1899 and 1900 electric cars outside all other types of cars. This includes gas and steam powered ones! The Baker Torpedo, an 1902 electric vehicle became the first car to have an aerodynamic body which enclosed the driver and the platform.

The Baker Torpedo also reached 80mph in a speed test too! (However it did kill two spectators) On a second test it reached speeds of 120mph.

Going further back electric cars got their start in the early 1800’s. While early efforts were just ‘proof of concepts’ as they had limited speed and non rechargeable batteries. So you can go from A to B, but not back again unfortunately.

Fast forward to 1842 and two inventors separately invented electric cars which had rechargeable batteries, and they were practical! American Thomas Davenport and Scotsman Robert Davidson were their names. Improvements were eventually made by various other inventors. They improved the charge capacity and improved the electric motors.

Popularity

The popularity of electric cars really propelled in 1880, when Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb. The lightbulb increased the distribution of electricity and providing the infrastructure needed for the electric car to be viable for the public.

Even then there were advantages for the electric car over gas and steam. Electric cars had no vibrations like their gas and steam counterparts. They were also very quiet. They also didn’t smoke or backfire as often. Furthermore they could go right away when you get in the car. Which is a huge advantage as gas powered cars needed to be cranked by hand. Which is not only dangerous but very difficult!

Furthermore steam powered cars took up to 45mins on a cold day to get going! Electric cars also didn’t need to have gear changes. Which isn’t that difficuly nowadays but back then it was very hard!

Only advantages gas cars had over their electric cousins was that they had larger tanks and they could fill up quicker. While at the time there really wasn’t that many well developed roads to drive on. So most people drove in the city. Rarely going that far.

Popular electric cars

The following cars were popular in the early 1900’s:

• Columbia Runabout, which could go 40 miles on a single charge and run at average speeds of 15 mph (which wasn’t that bad at the time).
• 1914 Detroit Electric car, which had a range of 80 miles on a single charge and was the favorite car of none other than Clara Ford (Henry Ford’s wife; he bought the car for her despite the fact that at the time his company was presently breaking the balls of the electric car industry).
• Another great one was the American Morrison electric car which was capable of ranges of 182 miles on a single charge!  It was also capable of 14 mph, which again isn’t notable by today’s standards, but that 182 mile range certainly is.

Cost

Cost for a basic model of an electric car in the early 1900’s was around $1K. More lavish models were $3K.

Then came Henry Ford.

In 1915 Henry Ford was able to offer cars for $500 (in todays money $10,000). His hugely innovative assembly line construction was the main reason for offering his cars so cheaply compared to the electric vehicles. Making his cars very affordable to the average person.

By this time, electric cars had actually risen in price to $1700.

Another nail in the coffin was crude oil, crude oil was discovered in Texas and Oklahoma. This again, made costs lower. Gas became lower in price. Plus Charles Kettering invented the electric starter. This eliminated the need for cars to be cranked by hand. Roads then began expanding. Which made gas powered cars more attractive as they could travel further distances. Not only that gas cars were also becoming a lot faster then their electric counterparts.

Death

So, by 1935, the electric car was officially dead. It did make a comeback in the 1960’s but this was unsuccessful. To date all attempts to make a commercially successful EV failed.

However, the Tesla Model S, is looking to change that. It has a range of 250-300miles. Can seat 7 and be charged in 45 minutes. Electric cars such as the Model S are also said to save owners anywhere between $10K – $15K over the lifespan of a car in gas. Maintenance cost is also lower.

The Nissan Leaf is also attractive at 100mile range and 30minutes to charge. May look small range but it is very cheap at around $30K. Which is a lot cheaper than a Tesla! May be good for consumers or a run around car!

While the electric car seemed to be ahead of it’s time in the 18oo’s, we have made huge improvements over the years and we may well see an electric car takeover in the next 10 years.

(todayifoundout)

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