Electric cars. Will we all be driving them one day? Since the Nissan Leaf was first introduced in 2010, the car industry has been experimenting and modifying to see whether car buyers will fully adapt.
If electric cars are to dominate the market, then car mileage range between charges needs to continue to improve. America’s highways and byways also need more electric car chargers available. They also need to charge more quickly.
Though some people consider them the “next great thing,” electric cars are actually not new. They were first used more than 100 years ago The vehicles were preferred by both women and doctors. They were easier to start and very dependable.
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How Did Electric Cars Come About?
In the early 20th century, cars with an electric motor were a logical outgrowth of the recently designed electric motors for locomotives and omnibuses.
The Anderson Carriage Company in Detroit got into the car business by making automobile bodies. In 1907, they decided to put together the whole car putting in an electric motor. They called their new model the Detroit Electric. This car went on to become the most popular and long-lived electric vehicle to be sold in the United States at that time. (To see photos of these cars, visit http://www.detroitelectric.org/.)
Just as the electric cars today, these electric vehicles were powered by a rechargeable battery. Drivers reportedly could drive 80 miles (130 km) between battery charging sessions. However, the top speed at that time was only 20 miles per hour (32 km/h). This was adequate for city driving.
The biggest issue with electric cars was the higher cost. The electric car retailed for $2650. (Buyers could add a longer-lasting Edison nickel-iron battery for an additional $600.) In contrast, the gas-powered Ford Model T touring car sold for a mere $690.
Advantages of Electric Cars
The higher-priced car offered advantages, however. Some electric cars featured closed cabs for the riders. This would have been appealing to women and to anyone in colder climates. But the real advantages were convenience and reliability. If they were charged, they started easily and ran reliably.
The cars with gas-powered engines required hand-cranking the engine to get it started. Cranking a car was hard work and could be dangerous. If the crank flipped back suddenly, the person doing the cranking was subject to a broken wrist or a broken thumb. And if a driver started his own car, he had to crank it and then leap into the driver’s seat before the engine stalled.
Those who could afford electric cars bought them if they could. Doctors (remember reading about doctors who made house calls?) needed cars that were easy to start and very reliable, in case they had to go out in the middle of the night.
Favored by the Wealthy
Wives of the wealthy, including Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. all owned Detroit Electrics.
An article by Christopher Gray in The New York Times (6/14/09) described Fifth Avenue mansions and their private garages in Manhattan in the early 20th century. Andrew Carnegie, who built his mansion at 91st and Fifth Avenue in 1902 (now the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum), had a three-story Georgian-style “automobile house” next door with space for five electric cars and three charging panels.
Why Didn’t Electric Cars Catch On?
Why didn’t electric cars catch on? According to Harold Evans in his book, They Made America, the success of the gas-powered automobile came about because of Henry Ford.
Ford created the first mass-produced automobile that could be priced low enough that more people could buy it. When Thomas Edison was introduced to Henry Ford for the first time in 1896, Edison encouraged Ford to keep working on his gas-powered cars.
Edison said that electric cars were doomed because they had to remain near power stations. The great inventor noted that a gas car that carries its own power plant (a gasoline engine) was more promising.
Gas-Powered Cars Got Better
During this era, gas-powered cars also got better. When Charles Kettering (1876-1958) invented the electric “car starter” in 1911, the game began to change. The first car to have an electric starter was a Cadillac in 1912. Suddenly gas-powered cars could be started with a key or a button rather than a crank. While it took 10-15 years before they were common, the trend grew and led to the continued growth of the gas car.
Detroit Electric Lasts Until 1939
Detroit Electric continued to build electric cars, but the company encountered two rough patches. The first was in the 1920s, when gas-powered cars caught on. The second slide for the company was shortly after the stock market crash of 1929.
Finally in 1939, the company quit making the Detroit Electric car. Its time had passed.
Also see “Where Did They Buy Gas Before There Were Gas Stations?”