The Sad History of the Electric Car

Many people, (including myself) have been under the mistaken impression that electric cars are a new experimental development in the auto industry—a car of the future. However this is not the case. Electric cars have been around since 1835 when an American named Thomas Davenport created the world’s first small locomotive for public consumption. The first electric vehicle was an electric carriage created by a Scottish inventor named Robert Anderson, but it wasn’t very practical. The above photo is an ad for one of his later models—the Detroit Electric, with various models in production from 1907-1939. By this time (1859), rechargeable batteries had been developed. The first vehicles were not so practical as to be used on a regular basis, due to the need to replace the batteries after their energy was exhausted. 

In 1900, roughly one-third of all vehicles in the United States were electric. They were silent, energy efficient, and did not require an inconvenient crank to start. (Just imagine an old lawnmower)

The failure of the electric car was due to two things, the implementation of electric technology in gas based cars to replace the crank (which made it convenient for women and the elderly) and the cheap availability of gasoline. The superior horsepower of gas based vehicles didn’t hurt either. Henry Ford’s development of the assembly line in 1908 meant the electric car was far outnumbered by the competition in terms of available units. With all these other factors, it spelled a slow doom for the electric car. 

Forty-five years ago, in 1966, a Gallup poll indicated that 33 million Americans (slightly above 16% of the population at the time, 1 out of 6 people) were “interested” in electric vehicles. Despite developments of electric vehicles in the 70s and the 90s, for various reasons, some political, some stylistic, the electric car did not enter the mind of the average consumer as a viable alternative to gasoline based cars.

The most helpful support for electric cars in America has been the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which invests $2 billion dollars in electric battery and related technologies. Some of our political and economic allies have also started to develop the technology, so it looks like it’s finally time for the electric car to retain its due respect as a viable mode of transportation.

For those of you who hold reservations about adopting a ”new” technology, you may be relieved to find out that it is actually pretty old technology—almost two centuries. What is new is that it has finally gained popular support—the automotive makers, politicians, and the public all agree it sounds like a good idea. Battery technology has improved, and it is likely to continue doing so, as those of us with netbooks and laptops have noticed. The capacity of electronic companies to provide power has also increased considerably to anticipate this development.

http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/223/electric-car-timeline.html

Check http://www.recovery.gov/ and enter your zip code to see how many contracts, grants, and loans have been awarded and how much have been invested in your area.