electric car?

Question

They built it in 1888. In 1896 the Woods Motor Vehicle Company became the first American manufacturer of the electric car. It was a good product; by 1904 one third of all the cars in Chicago, New York City and Boston were electric powered. And then by 1912 there were 20,000 electric cars and 10,000 electric trucks and buses in the United States. What happened here? Where did they go? And why am i paying 3.45 a gallon for a gas powered vehicle?

Answer 1

The people who had leased the ones from Ford loved them. They fought to buy them after their leases were up, but were not allowed. Big Oil wanted those cars out of here so they could inundate us with huge SUV's and get everyone hooked on massive gas consumption. They went out of the US.

Too bad.

Answer 2

Distance and speed of refueling.
Electric vehicles are much more restricted in the range the could obtain. Also it is much harder and takes longer to recharge an electric car than it takes to refuel a gasoline powered vehicle. Difficulty in disposing and the dangers of early batteries may have contributed to the disuse of them as well. Old batteries used lead and acids and had to be refilled frequently.

Answer 3

History

Electric motive power started with a small railway operated by a miniature electric motor, built by Thomas Davenport in 1835. In 1838, a Scotsman named Robert Davidson built an electric locomotive that attained a speed of four miles an hour. In England a patent was granted in 1840 for the use of rails as conductors of electric current, and similar American patents were issued to Lilley and Colten in 1847.

Between 1832 and 1839 (the exact year is uncertain), Robert Anderson of Scotland invented the first crude electric carriage, powered by non-rechargeable Primary cells.

By the 20th century, electric cars and rail transport were commonplace, with commercial electric automobiles having the majority of the market. Electrified trains were used for coal transport as the motors did not use precious oxygen in the mines. Switzerland's lack of natural fossil resources forced the rapid electrification of their rail network. One of the earliest rechargeable batteries - the Nickel-iron battery - was favored by Edison for use in electric cars.

Electric vehicles were among the earliest automobiles, and before the preeminence of light, powerful internal combustion engines, electric automobiles held many vehicle land speed and distance records in the early 1900s. They were produced by Anthony Electric, Baker Electric, Detroit Electric, and others and at one point in history out-sold gasoline-powered vehicles.

In the early 20th century, National City Lines, which was a partnership of General Motors, Firestone, and Standard Oil of California purchased many electric tram networks across the country to dismantle them and replace them with GM buses. The partnership was convicted for this conspiracy, but the ruling was overturned in a higher court. Electric tram line technologies could be used to recharge BEVs and PHEVs on the highway while the user drives, providing virtually unrestricted driving range. The technology is old and well established (see : Conduit current collection, Nickel-iron battery). The infrastructure has not been built.


From 1996 to 1998 during emissions reductions regulations GM produced 1117 of their EV1 models, 800 of which were made available through 3-year leases. In 2003, upon the expiration of EV1 leases, GM crushed them. The reason for the crushing is not clear, but has variously been attributed to (1) the auto industry's successful challenge to California law requiring zero emission vehicles or (2) a federal regulation requiring GM to produce and maintain spare parts for the few thousands EV1s or (3) a conspiracy to remove the dream of electric vehicles from the public consciousness. A movie made on the subject in 2005-2006 was titled Who Killed the Electric Car? and released theatrically by Sony Pictures Classics in 2006. The film explores the roles of automobile manufacturers, oil industry, the US government, batteries, hydrogen vehicles, and consumers, and each of their roles in limiting the deployment and adoption of this technology.

Future

The future of electric vehicles until recently seemed unimpressive due to their low driving range and short lifespan of batteries. However, recent technological advances have made electric vehicles more feasible.

Answer 4

Top speed was 35mph and max range was 80mi. You had to charge them all night.

I can have replicas made at $14500 a copy. How many would you like?