History of the Electric Battery Car and the Fastest Men on Earth Up to 1900
Electric Car / The Fastest Men on Earth With the "Global Warming" and "Green" debate continuing unabated more and more attention is being to the subject of "electric vehicles".
Many of today's' big car manufacturers are currently producing hybrid cars whilst searching for the ultimate "electric powered car".
So many people think that the electric or battery powered car is something of the future when in fact our love affair with the car all started with the "electric" version in the 1800s.
Back in the 1830s Robert Anderson in Scotland and Christopher Becker in Holland both built forerunners of the electric car.
More practical and successful vehicles were invented by American Thomas Davenport and Scotsman Robert Davidson in the 1840s and for the next 40 years fine tuning of all the components eventually produced the early models which would flourish until the early 1920s.
Although considered slow by today's standards these early electrics outclassed other gasoline and steam powered cars.
"Electrics" had many advantages over other types of vehicles.
Compared to the available gasoline vehicles which were noisy, smelly and vibrated continuously, they were the equivalent of the Rolls Royce of today.
And with the gasoline vehicles the most difficult part of driving them was the gear changing something not required in the "electrics".
The other alternative was the Steam powered vehicle and whilst liker the "electric" did not require gear changing its main drawback was the time taken to start-up, especially on cold winter mornings taking as much as 30/45 minutes.
The other drawback was the limited range before requiring additional water.
These downsides to gas and steam made the "electrics" the preferred vehicle of the day.
The other important aspect of driving at this time was that the only decent roads were in towns and so most motoring was local with not very much long distance travelling, and this made the "electric" the ideal clean vehicle with its restricted mileage.
Many of today's' big car manufacturers are currently producing hybrid cars whilst searching for the ultimate "electric powered car".
So many people think that the electric or battery powered car is something of the future when in fact our love affair with the car all started with the "electric" version in the 1800s.
Back in the 1830s Robert Anderson in Scotland and Christopher Becker in Holland both built forerunners of the electric car.
More practical and successful vehicles were invented by American Thomas Davenport and Scotsman Robert Davidson in the 1840s and for the next 40 years fine tuning of all the components eventually produced the early models which would flourish until the early 1920s.
Although considered slow by today's standards these early electrics outclassed other gasoline and steam powered cars.
"Electrics" had many advantages over other types of vehicles.
Compared to the available gasoline vehicles which were noisy, smelly and vibrated continuously, they were the equivalent of the Rolls Royce of today.
And with the gasoline vehicles the most difficult part of driving them was the gear changing something not required in the "electrics".
The other alternative was the Steam powered vehicle and whilst liker the "electric" did not require gear changing its main drawback was the time taken to start-up, especially on cold winter mornings taking as much as 30/45 minutes.
The other drawback was the limited range before requiring additional water.
These downsides to gas and steam made the "electrics" the preferred vehicle of the day.
The other important aspect of driving at this time was that the only decent roads were in towns and so most motoring was local with not very much long distance travelling, and this made the "electric" the ideal clean vehicle with its restricted mileage.
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