Following the enthusiasm and media buzz that greats any news around electric cars 2011, it is easy to assume that the electric car is a fairly recent phenomenon. But far from it, the cheap electric car has been in existence for a while only slipping in and out of relevance.
There is no unanimity as to who was the first person to create an electricity powered vehicle though most agree it took place between 1828 and 1839. The persons credited with the electric car’s invention include Hungarian Anyos Jedlik, Scotsman Robert Anderson, Dutch Professor Stratingh and the American Thomas Davenport.
Thomas Davenport and Robert Davidson separately proceeded to make a more practical electric car in 1842. They were the first to use what was then a new invention – non-rechargeable electric batteries. Frenchmen, Gaston Plante in 1865 and Camille Faure in 1881 improved on this battery by enhancing its storage capacity. Storage capacity was crucial if electric cars were to gain wider acceptance.
Towards the end of the 19th century, Great Britain and France became the first countries push for the mass production of a cheap electric car. Americans would show greater interest in electric vehicles shortly after especially after William Morrison built a 6 passenger electric wagon in the early 1890s.
In 1899 and 1900, electric cars experienced more sales than gasoline and steam powered vehicles. The first commercial application of electric vehicles was the establishment of a fleet of taxis in New York.
The preference for electric vehicles over gas powered cars was because of the absence of noise, vibration and smell. Gas cars were also more difficult to drive because of the cumbersome early gear change – something was unnecessary in electric cars. Production of electric cars continued to grow reaching its peak in 1912.
By the 1920s, several factors led to the near extinction of electric cars before they remerged in the 1960s.
These factors included better cross country road networks increasing the need for vehicles that had a longer range (electric vehicles then like now were ideal for city driving), discovery of oil in Texas making it affordable for the average American, mass production of cheaper gasoline cars by Henry Ford and the electric starter‘s invention that removed the need for the cumbersome hand crank that was in use till then.
Increased awareness of gasoline’s adverse environmental impact as well as realization that fossil fuels were finite saw renewed interest in alternative fuel cars in the 1960s. The cheap electric car has been in and out of the headlines since then but substantial progress has been made.
