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Electric Cars History
Also, in 1838, a Scotsman named Robert Davidson built an electric locomotive that achived the top speed of four miles an hour. The first related patent was granted in 1840 in England, for a patent on the use of rails as conductors of electric current. Early on, electric cars became increasingly popular due to quieter and more smoothly operation than other early cars, but this popularity was early on happening in Europe only. It was not until 1890 that America paid any attention to the electric car technology. The first American electric cars were built by A. L. Ryker and William Morrison in 1891. For commercial applications, the electric car was introduced as a fleet of New York taxis in 1897 by the Electric Carriage & Wagon Company of Philadelphia. American manufacturers for electric cars at the start of the 20th century included Anthony Electric, Baker Motor Vehicle, Detroit Electric, and Woods Motor Vehicle. Since the early success, several factors contributed to the downfall of the electric car, but the final blow is the introduction of mass production manufacturing of the gasoline car by Henry Ford in the early 1920s. In many ways, there were no new advancements with the electric car until late 1960s. The oil crisis of the 1970s renewed interest in alternative fuels. The crisis pushed many companies to renew the electric car for uses like mail trucks and other service vehicles. Governments around the world pushed for fuel reform to protect the environment. Many laws influenced large automakers to start producing electric car prototypes, but costs prohibited them from going to the market until recently. The electric motor in cars made a comeback in 1990s with hybrid car technology, technology which had roots in the inventions by Ferdinand Porsche in 1902. The popular hybrid car models including the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight and the increasing oil prices have put, once again, the development in electric engines into the forefront.
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