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Future Cars Tech
Flying Cars
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Future Cars Reviews
Flying Cars
Air Cars
Electric Cars
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Hybrid Cars
Hydrogen Cars
Misc.
Future Cars Articles
What is OPEC?
Peak Oil Overview
Cars: Past and Present
Future Fuels
Electricity
Solar Energy
Biodiesel
Bioethanol
Hydrogen
Liquid Petroleum Gas
Methanol
Natural Gas
Biobutanol
Biogas
HDRD
ULSD
DMF
DME
Synthetic Fuels
Considerations
Fuel Comparison
Future Cars > Future Cars Tech > Future Electric Cars > Electric Car History
Electric Car History
Inside This Section:
Electric: Its Been Around. What Happened?
Vehicles based on electric power sources have existed since the late nineteenth century during which there were more electric vehicles, including trolleys and trains, than there were gasoline-powered cars. The application of electricity as a power source for trains occurred about 1885 and progressed so successfully as a mass transit that by 1900 there was hope that all systems of city and suburban traffic would become electric. As with the steam railroads before them, the electric railways came to be seen as the future of transportation.
How are they with emissions?The Beginning: Electric Over Gasoline
In the 1830's Scottish businessman Robert Anderson invented the first crude electric carriage. Professor Sibrandus Stratingh of Groningen, the Netherlands, designed and built the small-scale electric car, with Christoher Becker in 1835.
The common storage battery, then a novelty was drastically improved by Gaston Plante in 1865 and Camille Faure in 1881, helping electric vehicles to flourish. France and Great Britain were amongst the the first governments to acclaim financial support tand resources for the widespread development of electric vehicles.
At the turn of the century, before the powerful but polluting internal combustion engines, had grown in dominance electric automobiles held many speed and distance records and had popularity amongst the general newspaper reading public.
Additionally, the processes of extracting and refining crude oil into a useable energy source at the turn of the century was extremely expensive. A gasoline engine(for automobiles or larger vehicles) presented difficulties and required a crank to start the engine for personal automobiles. Gasoline vehicles were also extremely noisy due to abcence of mufflers or poor mufflers and had high smoke emissions. Electric vehicles numbered over fifty-thousand on the roads of the United States during the early twentieth century.
Electric cars were produced in the United States predominantly by leading auto manufacturers Anthony Electric, Baker, Detroit, Edison, Studebaker. Due to technological limitations and low top speeds these vehicles were sold primarily as “towncars” to affluent and high income individuals. The electric autos were marketed as approriate vehicles for women drivers with clean, quiet operation absent of a required hand-cranking start.
The electric starter invented and introduced by Cadillac in 1913 revolutionized the potential of the internal combustion engine and provided a safe, effective, and consumer-friendly mechanism heavily favored over the hand-crank start. With the advent of the electric starter came the innovation contributed downfall, and virtual extinction of the electric vehicle, as well as the mass-produced and affordable Ford Model T.
A significant contribution to the inability of the electric car to flourish in the United States was the loss of Edison's direct current (DC) electric power system in favor of the Westinghouse supported and financed alternating current(AC) electric system. This deprived electric vehicle owners of readily available source of DC electricity to recharge their batteries and AC/DC converters were extremely costly.
Cheaper Gas Means Another Option
Less expensive means to produce gasoline and an electric starter facilitated a gasoline car (and eventually larger gasoline engines for mass transportation) that could travel far greater distances than the electric vehicles in operation. With the mass production of gasoline vehicles the prices became ever more attractive and the advent of the electric vehicle soon was stifled.
By the late 1930s, the electric automobile industry was defunct.
Electric Cars Resources
Electric Car History
Inside This Section:
- What are Electric Cars?
- Electric Car History
- The Present of Future Electric Cars
- Electric Car Infrastructure and Emissions
- Electric Car Advantages and Disadvantages
- Notable Models and the Future
Electric: Its Been Around. What Happened?
Vehicles based on electric power sources have existed since the late nineteenth century during which there were more electric vehicles, including trolleys and trains, than there were gasoline-powered cars. The application of electricity as a power source for trains occurred about 1885 and progressed so successfully as a mass transit that by 1900 there was hope that all systems of city and suburban traffic would become electric. As with the steam railroads before them, the electric railways came to be seen as the future of transportation. How are they with emissions?The Beginning: Electric Over Gasoline
In the 1830's Scottish businessman Robert Anderson invented the first crude electric carriage. Professor Sibrandus Stratingh of Groningen, the Netherlands, designed and built the small-scale electric car, with Christoher Becker in 1835.
The common storage battery, then a novelty was drastically improved by Gaston Plante in 1865 and Camille Faure in 1881, helping electric vehicles to flourish. France and Great Britain were amongst the the first governments to acclaim financial support tand resources for the widespread development of electric vehicles.
At the turn of the century, before the powerful but polluting internal combustion engines, had grown in dominance electric automobiles held many speed and distance records and had popularity amongst the general newspaper reading public.
Additionally, the processes of extracting and refining crude oil into a useable energy source at the turn of the century was extremely expensive. A gasoline engine(for automobiles or larger vehicles) presented difficulties and required a crank to start the engine for personal automobiles. Gasoline vehicles were also extremely noisy due to abcence of mufflers or poor mufflers and had high smoke emissions. Electric vehicles numbered over fifty-thousand on the roads of the United States during the early twentieth century.
Electric cars were produced in the United States predominantly by leading auto manufacturers Anthony Electric, Baker, Detroit, Edison, Studebaker. Due to technological limitations and low top speeds these vehicles were sold primarily as “towncars” to affluent and high income individuals. The electric autos were marketed as approriate vehicles for women drivers with clean, quiet operation absent of a required hand-cranking start.
The electric starter invented and introduced by Cadillac in 1913 revolutionized the potential of the internal combustion engine and provided a safe, effective, and consumer-friendly mechanism heavily favored over the hand-crank start. With the advent of the electric starter came the innovation contributed downfall, and virtual extinction of the electric vehicle, as well as the mass-produced and affordable Ford Model T.
A significant contribution to the inability of the electric car to flourish in the United States was the loss of Edison's direct current (DC) electric power system in favor of the Westinghouse supported and financed alternating current(AC) electric system. This deprived electric vehicle owners of readily available source of DC electricity to recharge their batteries and AC/DC converters were extremely costly.
Cheaper Gas Means Another Option
Less expensive means to produce gasoline and an electric starter facilitated a gasoline car (and eventually larger gasoline engines for mass transportation) that could travel far greater distances than the electric vehicles in operation. With the mass production of gasoline vehicles the prices became ever more attractive and the advent of the electric vehicle soon was stifled.
By the late 1930s, the electric automobile industry was defunct.
Electric Cars Resources
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Electric Cars Resources
Electric Cars Resources
