Thursday
Nov272008
Electric Cars: How Did We Go So Wrong?
Thursday, November 27, 2008 at 10:05PM | Share Article | BlogOnSmog | Sphere: Related Content Stumble It! |
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| Americans started to take notice of electric cars in 1895, four years after an electric tricycle was built by A.L. Ryker and a six-passenger wagon was built by William Morrison. 1897 saw the introduction of the first commercial fleet of electric cars in New York City, built by Electric Carriage and Wagon Company of Philadelphia. In 1899, the world record for land speed was set at 68 mph using an electric racing car built by Belgian Camille Jénatzy. The high point for electric cars in America came in 1899 and 1900 when they outsold all other types of vehicle. The electric car had many advantages over the gasoline powered car. After all there was no vibration, noise or smell with electric cars. Driving was also much easier since there was no manual crank nor was there gear shifting, two troublesome areas for gasoline cars. So the question is: what happened? We are only now starting to see the re-emergence of competitive electric vehicles with the Chevy Volt over one hundred years later. And even this is in doubt with General Motors teetering near bankruptcy. Unfortunately, the discovery of Texas oil, the invention of the electric starter, the development of inter-city roads and Henry Ford's mass production of the internal combustion engine vehicle all led to the downfall of the electric car. If we only knew then what we know now... |
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Reader Comments (3)
As I read the first paragraph of your article, the answer that formed in my mind was what what you wrote in your last paragraph.
Money, ease & technology all contributed to 100 year downfall of the ECar. There wasn't enough since the electric car was originally developed to steer us away from the internal combusion version. People we/are making a lot of money off of the gas for the car, and it will cost a lot of money to get an electric car to mass production to a point where it is less expensive than a gas-powered car.
All this being said, I hope the tide turns soon. Not sure if I'll be able to find (let alone afford) a Chevy Volt when it comes out, but hopefully I can get a 2nd generation.
Thanks for sharing this post
This history information is very nice.Thanks for given this post