1880-1920
The first electric cars
Before Tesla, there was Edison.
c. 1900
An electric car being charged.
IMAGE: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Electricity is the thing. There are no whirring and grinding gears with their numerous levers to confuse, no dangerous and evil-smelling gasoline and no noise.
THOMAS EDISON
c. 1895
Thomas Edison poses with his first electric car, the Edison Baker, and one of its batteries.
IMAGE: GENERAL PHOTOGRAPHIC AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES
Electric cars are not a recent innovation. They have been around as long as vehicles powered by internal-combustion engines.
First produced in the 1880s, electric cars gained popularity in the following decades for their ease of operation, and for being less smelly and noisy than their gasoline-powered counterparts.
With top speeds of only about 20 miles per hour and a limited range, they were primarily used by affluent drivers to get around cities. They were marketed to women in particular, as a quiet, clean car without fumes or a hand crank. Some even came disguised with fake radiators to make them more palatable to the male market.
1882
Men ride on an electric car designed by Siemens and Halske outside of Berlin, Germany.
IMAGE: ULLSTEIN BILD/GETTY IMAGES
c. 1899
A Columbia electric car.
IMAGE: NATIONAL MOTOR MUSEUM/HERITAGE IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES
1899
Roger Wallace drives his electric car.
IMAGE: NATIONAL MOTOR MUSEUM/HERITAGE IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES
1899
Camille Jenatzy drives his self-designed electric car near Paris, France. He was first person to exceed 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) in a car.
IMAGE: HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
1906
Electric cars of the New York Edison Company line up in Manhattan.
IMAGE: BETTMANN/CORBIS
1907
An electric street sweeper cleans the roadway in Berlin, Germany.
IMAGE: ULLSTEIN BILD/GETTY IMAGES
1909
Electric vehicles recharge at a power substation.
IMAGE: SCHENECTADY MUSEUM; HALL OF ELECTRICAL HISTORY FOUNDATION/CORBIS
Sales of electric cars peaked in the early 1910s as more and more homes became wired for electricity. In the United States, 38% of cars were electric at this time.
However, the popularity of electric cars cratered as numerous developments — expanded road infrastructure, petroleum discoveries, the invention of the electric starter and the muffler — made gasoline-powered cars a more affordable and practical option.
c. 1910
An advertisement for an electric car.
IMAGE: CORBIS
Now it is possible for an owner of an electric to install his own charging plant in his stable.
NEW YORK TIMES, C. 1910
c. 1910
A Mercury Arc Rectifier Charging Set powers up an electric car in a garage in Cleveland, Ohio.
IMAGE: SCHENECTADY MUSEUM; HALL OF ELECTRICAL HISTORY FOUNDATION/CORBIS
c. 1912
A woman uses a hand-cranked battery charger to charge her electric Columbia Mark 68 Victoria automobile. The Pope Manufacturing Company made the car in 1906 and the charger in 1912.
IMAGE: SCHENECTADY MUSEUM; HALL OF ELECTRICAL HISTORY FOUNDATION/CORBIS
c. 1920
A Detroit Electric car drives on a mountain road between Seattle and Mount Rainier, Washington.
IMAGE: INTERIM ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
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