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.

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

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