Electric Vehicles

In the mid-1830s, a Scottish businessperson Robert Anderson built the first electric vehicle, a carriage that used an electric motor for its power train. About the same time, a professor in the Netherlands had his assistant build a small electric car from his designs. Newly developed non-rechargeable electric cells were used by American Thomas Davenport and Scot Robert Davidson in the early 1840s to power their electric cars. The battle for supremacy for electric cars would become the battle for improved capacity of storage battery. Austrian inventor Franz Kravogl introduced the electric two-vehicle in 1867 at the World Exhibition in Paris, France. By 1981, the first three-wheel electric vehicle was displayed at the Exhibition of Electricity in Paris.

In America, the first three-wheel electric tricycle was built by A.L. Ryker in 1891. The public interest in electric vehicles would lead to many innovations by early American car manufacturers. New York City was the first to install a fleet of electric carriages. Used as taxis, these early electric vehicles would be the beginning of the City's mass transit system. The electric carriage and electric wagon would remain the popular choice for transportation and electric-powered cars would out sell gas-powered vehicles for the early part of the 1900s. The ease of operation made early electric cars popular with women drivers. By the turn of the 20th century, the United States had electric, steam and gasoline powered vehicles traveling the roadways. Even then, the electric vehicle was often the preferred means of transportation since there was less vibration, smell and noise.

The early gas-powered cars required more finesse in shifting gears and steam-powered four-wheel vehicles had a 45-minute start up time to fire the boilers. Since the only decent roads at that time were located in the cities and towns, the range and speed of the electric car was not an issue. Once Americans had better road systems, the demand for longer range vehicles started to grow. The discovery of oil in Texas and the mass production of the internal combustion engine by Henry Ford would change the face of transportation for years to come. Suddenly, an automobile that used a gasoline-powered engine would sell for about a third of the cost of an electric car. As the demand for electric cars continued to fall, manufactures looked to find uses for the fuel-efficient electric motor. Over the next fifty years, warehouse and industrial equipment (e.g., forklifts) would become the dominate electric vehicles.

General Motors continued to display concept cars designed for electric power. In 1966, GM built a takeoff on their Corvair model called the Electrovair that was followed by the Electrovette ten years later. Unfortunately, it would be three decades before the American public would express a renewed interest in electric powered automobiles. Today, with the rising cost of fuel oil and a growing global interest in environmental protection, the demand for alternative modes of transportation are again on the rise. The greatest challenge facing designers of the future electric car is the limited range for travel and the recharging time for a battery powered vehicle. Similar to the introduction of the original electric carriage, the electric car and electric bus will likely be limited to city areas until the transportation infrastructure across the United States is revamped.

A popular documentary, "Who Killed the Electric Car?", focused on the roles of the oil industry, auto makers and our government in the limited success of General Motors early attempts to design and manufacture an electric car for the masses. The film traces the commercialization of the electric vehicle and the impact that environmentalist, Middle East governments and global warming had on regulatory issues in the United States. GM's earliest electric vehicles were produced to meet certain California environmental requirements. The film explores many of the reasons that oil companies and auto manufacturers would have had for killing off the electric car. In the end, General Motors would only lease their electric vehicles to drivers and would later recall the lease vehicles. Despite protest from leaseholders, GM crushed its entire inventory of electric-powered vehicles. GM responded to the movie's harsh criticisms insisting a lack of interest in electric cars and concern for long-term safety were the real reasons for eliminating their electric vehicles.