What is all the hype about electric cars?  Sure, they’re good for the environment and use less fuel, making them more budget friendly.  But where did they come from?  Are they something new, temporary, just a fad?

Far from being a modern day contraption, history shows the first electric carriage, [crude albeit] was built in Scotland, sometime between 1832 and 1835.  American and Scotsmen inventors combined their efforts to create a more practical version around 1842.  Electric cars were in widespread use in England and France by the late 1800s.  Hardly a modern invention, don’t you agree?

Early versions of the electric car cost around $2000.00, and chugged along at fourteen miles per hour and lasted close to eighteen miles before coughing into need of recharging.

History also shows that between 1899 and 1890 electric cars outsold other vehicles.  This most likely was because of its benefits.  Gasoline cars had to be cranked to start, and gears had to be fought to shift.  Electric cars ran smoothly, whereas the competition vibrated on primitive rough roads, besides, electric cars didn’t carry the annoying smell and noise of gasoline vehicles.

So, with all these seeming benefits why did the popularity of electric cars decline?

Again, history shows gasoline cars progressed to the crank free version, roads improved dramatically, demanding cars with longer-range capabilities, crude oil began production in Texas, reducing the cost of gasoline, and a man by the name of Henry Ford made the purchase of gasoline versions possible for less than half the price of electric cars.

Happily, history again is in the making with a resurgence of electric cars.  Once again they are enjoying more economical use as well as producing fewer emissions making them better for the environment.  More and more electric cars can be seen zipping down the roads, keeping pace with their gasoline and diesel competitors.  More power to them.

They are indeed a rich part of history.