As new Electric cars are being launched every week, you may think this cutting edge technology was invented just yesterday. But the truth is, the very first cars introduced nearly two centuries ago were in fact Electric! Long before gasoline car were invented and became market dominant like they are today.
So what happened? Why did EV trend diminished even before it started and how gasoline cars came into the picture? To understand this we have to go back in history and see how things took a wrong turn. And just imagine how better the world would have been if electric car had continued till today.
First Cars invented were Electric!
It was year 1828, when first electric cars started showing. A Hungarian inventor Ányos Jedlik invented an early electric model car powered by small motor. Then the first electric DC motor was created by Thomas Davenport in 1834.
Till this time, gasoline powered engine wasn’t even on horizon until invented later in 1870. [1]
In fact when cars became mainstream by 1900 in America about 38% of cars are electric, 40% ran on steam and only 22% ran on gasoline. [2] Over the next few years, electric vehicles from different automakers began popping up across the U.S.A. New York City even had a fleet of 60 electric taxis back then.
EVs ruled the early 1900s as other types of cars were noisy or needed hand cranking and generated exhaust fumes. To contrary electric cars were near silent and were considered a way forward for transportation.
Porsche’s first car was electric
Porsche P1 was one of the first commercial electric car introduced on June 26, 1898 in Vienna, Austria. It was designed by Ferdinand Porsche when he was just 23. It had top speed of 22 mph (35 kph) and a range of 49 miles (79 km). [3] Ferdinand Porsche even entered this car in Berlin road race where it won the gold medal as it crossed finished 18 minutes before the second car.
The P1 was originally created for a luxury carriage company called Jacob Lohner & Comp. Its owner became convinced that the age of horse and carriage was over. Electric car back then were considered novelty for rich as they were expensive around $1700. Or in todays money about $43,000. So there needed to be a way of making the car affordable to common man.
Car adopted Gasoline to be cheaper
Step in man called Henry Ford founder of the Ford Motor Company and chief developer of the assembly line brought mass production technique to car assembly. By observing workers in tin factories he realised that assembling a single car by a group of men was very inefficient and quickly understood that an car assembly line system can work to produce them cheap and quickly.
He revolutionised the car industry allowing cars to be mass produced for the first time this brought the price down to an affordable level by 1914. Ford was selling more cars than all the other car manufacturers. Ford’s Model T sold for about $260.00 or $6400 today which was 1/5 the price of an EV sold same time.[4]
Thus EVs stood no chance against the gasoline powered Model T. That wasn’t the only problem with EVs back then as more people could afford a car they enjoyed the long drives to different cities where range of EVs was no match to instantly refuellable gasoline.
Ford halted first EV revolution
Back in 1914, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison were good friends. Edison worked hard to make better longer lasting batteries for cars he believed that Electric transport was clearly the future. Their friendship was soured when Ford Motor Co was being formed in 1903 and at same time Edison denounced publicly that
“Electricity is the thing. There are no whirring and grinding gears with their numerous levers to confuse. There is no water-circulating system to get out of order – no dangerous and evil-smelling gasoline and no noise.” – Edison
Ford wanted to build cheap and lighter cars whereas electric cars were proving the opposite. As years passed Ford began to rethink and taunted the idea that he was working on a low-priced electric car with Edison. But that never saw glory of Ford’s mass production.
Did GM kill the electric car?
Fast forward to the late 1900s interest in electric vehicles had mostly died down. Automaker GM (General Motors) showed many initiatives in field of Electric car. They displayed electric delivery jeeps that the United States Postal Service used in a 1975 test program.
During this time, automakers began modifying some of their popular vehicle models into electric vehicles. This meant that electric vehicles now achieved speeds and performance much closer to gasoline-powered vehicles and many of them had a range of 60 miles.
One of the most well-known electric car during this time was GM’s EV1, a car that was heavily mentioned in the 2006 documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? Instead of modifying an existing vehicle, GM designed and developed the EV1 from the ground up. With a range of 80 miles and the ability to accelerate from 0 to 50 miles per hour in just seven seconds, the EV1 quickly gained a cult following.
Watch the documentary trailer below and be the judge as to what happened back then.
With lots of controversy, EV1 was discontinued in 2001 and most of them were later scrapped. Due to which GM left a bitter history behind with early EV adopters who have a love and hate relationship with the company.
Revolution Electrified’s Take
As the trend of Electric cars is being acknowledged again today. As if we have got a second chance to set the path in right direction for our next generation to come. We must join this Electrical Revolution that’s happening around us.
Transition to Electric cars is critical part of saving us from the looming Climate Crisis. No more burning stuff for individuals profits. No more following corporate propaganda only to be spoken through governing puppets and decision makers.
Use emission free transport vehicles when needed. Electric Vehicles are not the solution of climate crisis but are getting the world economy streamlined by adaptation of more renewable clean energy and the use of recycled battery materials.
Let’s take this opportunity to save the planet one step at a time.
Why not give EV a try and plan your first EV holiday.
Join the Revolution get Electrified.
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