9 Electric Cars 100 Years Old or More
1891 Morrison
Made by William Morrison in 1891, some say the Morrison was the first electric vehicle in America. It had a four horsepower engine , and could carry 6-12 passengers. Top speed was about 20 mph. The batteries needed to be recharged every 50 miles.
It has been said the car was actually completed in 1887 and was driven in a Des Moines parade in 1888. If that is true, the Morrison was first built 122 years ago, and it was built in America, where today they are almost no electric cars on the roads.
- » See also: Is the Renault-Nissan Alliance Going in Two Different Electric Car Directions?
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Electrobat 1894-1899
Electrobats were made for several years in Philadelphia. The first ones were very heavy and used steel tires to support a large lead battery. They employed twin 1.5 hp motors and had a top speed of 20 mph. They could go 25 miles on one charge.
1900 Riker
A bulky enclosed cabin four passenger sedan that was made about the turn of the century, the Riker featured electric sidelamps, wooden-spoked wheels, and a voice tube so passengers could communicate with the driver. Cabin windows could be raised and lowered. 48 battery cells were onboard, with an electric engine near each rear wheel. The driver’s seat was about 6-7 feet in the air.
Everything old is new again. Some things are going back to the way they were even where I work. Before the bean counters were king. You know the people who pretended to know how to squeeze the most profit from a company without actually knowing what the company and their processes were all about.
http://www.eco-snob.com
“Everything old is new again.”
Then people rediscover why they didn’t go that direction in the first place.
agrotime blog
I have read that the electric cars of this era were popular with women and doctors. The women because it required no cranking and the doctors because it was far more reliable than the gas cars of the era (handy for housecalls).
Why are we hearing so much about hybrids? Perhaps so the oil companies can continue to run the world. There’s no reason we should’nt have 100% electric cars at a reasonable price. Especially with 122+ year old technology. Is there nobody with a backbone left in this world?
I think the most compelling argument electric cars are futuristic is because of the fact that it’s highly unfeasible barely even a legitimate concept to make a car from.
Great article!
Ah, those simple old times! I guess back then they did not know that electric cars were “an inferior technology” or “old lady cars” or whatever else electric cards were called over the years and were stubbornly building them for 20+ years. Yes, it really is a shame that electric cars were not allowed 100+ years of active development like gasoline ones. On the other hand though, we really have no one to blame. It was, after all, the greed of individuals and market forces (also, some stupid advertising campaigns of 1910s aimed only at wealthy women, who at the time did not even have the buying power) that killed the electric car for the first time yet those same forces are responsible for pretty much everything you own, use, eat. I almost also typed “breathe” but then grabbed a hold of myself - no, capitalism is not yet responsible for the air we breathe, not yet anyways…
Oh, and a little comment about one of your pictures: the Riker Torpedo pictured was not actually called a “torpedo” being just what’s pictured - a frame on wheels, 60-cell battery and two x 2 hp electric motors, that’s it. They referred to it as just “racer” and there was a funny comment in Scientific American about that race where they say that A.L Riker would have completed the track even faster had he spent less time dodging pedestrians that could not hear an electric vehicle coming and strolled onto the track. Very telling about quality of riding in an electric vehicle - no noise!
The “Torpedo” is actually a different vehicle (sorry I don’t have a picture in electronic format handy) - a Baker Torpedo made by Baker Motor Vehicle Company of Cleveland, OH. It was built a year after - in 1902 and was the first automobile ever to have an aerodynamic body (hence “torpedo”). It was said to run at 70 mph during tests - an amazing speed at the time - but crushed badly during the actual race, being too fast for the driver, Mr. C. Baker himself. The crush left two onlookers dead, six injured (strapped-in driver unharmed) and marked the end of street racing in America. Legal street racing that is, you understand.
Fuelzilla
END OF TRANSMISSION
The modern Hybrid vehicles began as an Economy car race, won by CalTech Graduate Students who used a small gasoline engine, and a DC electric Motor, and a Storage battery (their car could not go fast with that small engine, and could not go far with that small storage battery, but it won the prize).
After winning, they approached Detroit big three with their ideas - the same Big Three who introduced Power Steering to the US via the 1949 Chrysler New Yorker, making it possible for housewives and other ladies to drive and park an automobile in city traffic.
The original Power Steering unit was installed on the Inventor’s (then new) Pierce Arrow and demonstrated to the Big Three for each of nearly thirty years before Chrysler adopted it.
Toyota, recognizing the Hybrid for its true value, worked to perfect it for under twenty years, and you now know about the US origins of the Prius, and have some insight into the receptiveness of some big US industries to new ideas.