Oct 21 2009

Electric Cars: Back to the Future

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

It won't be long now before the wizards of clean automotive technology around the world finally begin selling a broad assortment of electric vehicles--at least to those who can afford price tags of $40,000 and up.

Enthusiastic as I am, part of me still can't help but wonder, what took them so long?

It turns out that successful electric car technology long predates the General Motors EV-1, a triumph of design that was rudely abandoned in 2002.  In fact, the first crude electric carriages were first brought to market in the 1830s--nearly two centuries ago!

Inventors in Europe made rapid headway as battery technology improved. In 1899, a French-designed electric vehicle broke the world land speed record, reaching over 65 miles per hour.

Americans came late to the race, but Electric Carriage and Wagon Company in Philadelphia supplied the first fleet of electric taxis to New York in 1897. Soon established companies like Edison, Studebaker and Riker were producing and selling electric cars. The first car designed and built by Ferdinand Porsche was electric, with front-wheel drive and automatic transmission.
 
By the early 20th century, more than 33,000 electric cars were registered in the United States--a number not surpassed until 2003. A typical electric car sold in 1912 for $1,750, less than $40,000 in today's dollars.

Anderson Electric Car Company in Detroit began selling the popular Detroit Electric in 1907. Its range was advertised as 80 miles between charges--but it ran in one test for 211 miles! Buyers included Thomas Edison (of course) and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who apparently didn't mind that the car used no petroleum. Women (including Henry Ford's wife Clara) reportedly appreciated the fact that it started quickly and smoothly without hand cranking and didn't backfire. In all, the company sold about 14,000 electric cars. (A 1916 Detroit Electric Touring Car is on display at the San Jose Historical Museum.)

So why didn't electric cars make it? One reason, certainly, was lack of range for long-distance touring. Another reason was aggressive price-cutting by Henry Ford on gas-powered vehicles like the Model T.

And at least one historian claims the big mistake automakers made was marketing the electric cars to women--complete with "poofy couches, lace curtains, and bud vases as standard equipment"--even though men made the buying decisions in most households.

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