Electric Cars 100 Years Ago

BlackbirdHighway · 10-16-2007, 04:16 AM

I knew that Jay Leno has a Baker Electric from 1909, but here's an article from Scientific American about the car show of 1907, and right there is a electric roadster, (runabout is the term they use).

So nothing new with the Tesla, just a bit modernized. (ok, a lot)

http://blog.sciam.com/index.php?p=69...1&pb=1#more696

I don't think we'll be seeing the return of steam cars, but who knows?

vfx · 10-16-2007, 11:31 AM

Try a book called "The Electric Vehicle and the Burden of History" very dryly written but lot's of eye opening stories about the genesis of EVs.

They did battery swaps. There were taxi companies that had the cab's batterys in large trays under the car. There were early hydraulic systems and rotating turntables for moving the heavy lead loads in and out of the cars quickly.

Delivery and local service routes are still perfect for EVs. The milage is aways known and the cars can charge for the full run the next day.

mt2 · 10-16-2007, 09:33 PM

If there are any of those Electric Touring Runabouts in a collection somewhere, Tesla Motors really should get one for their first showroom! Especially if there's 1908 models available. They can park it next to the 2008 Roadster.