Information Provided by Wikipedia.com:
The design of the electric car is one of the oldest for automobiles — small electric vehicles predate the Otto cycle upon which Diesel (diesel engine) and Benz (gasoline engine) based the automobile. Between 1832 and 1839 (the exact year is uncertain), Scottish businessman Robert Anderson invented the first crude electric carriage. Professor Sibrandus Stratingh of Groningen, the Netherlands, designed the small-scale electric car, built by his assistant Christopher Becker in 1835.[2]
Practical and more successful electric road vehicles were invented by both Thomas Davenport, an American, and Robert Davidson, a Scotsman, in 1842. Both inventors were the first to use non-rechargeable electric cells.[3]
Gaston Plante invented a better storage battery in France in 1865[4], and his fellow countryman Camille Faure improved the storage battery in 1881.[5] This improved-capacity storage battery paved the way for electric vehicles to flourish. An electric-powered two-wheel cycle was put on display at the World Exhibition 1867 in Paris by the Austrian inventor Franz Kravogl.[6]
France and Great Britain were the first nations to support the widespread development of electric vehicles.[7] In November 1881 French inventor Gustave Trouvé demonstrated a working three-wheeled automobile at the International Exhibition of Electricity in Paris.[8] Thomas Parker claimed to have built a working electric car by 1884[9]
Before the pre-eminence of internal combustion engines, electric automobiles held many speed and distance records.[10] Among the most notable of these records was the breaking of the 100 km/h (62 mph) speed barrier, by Camille Jenatzy on April 29, 1899 in his 'rocket-shaped' vehicle Jamais Contente, which reached a top speed of 105.88 km/h (65.79 mph).
It was not until 1895 that Americans began to devote attention to electric vehicles after an electric tricycle was built by A. L. Ryker and William Morrison built a six-passenger wagon both in 1891. Many innovations followed and interest in motor vehicles increased greatly in the late 1890s and early 1900s. In 1897, the first commercial application was established as a fleet of New York City taxis built by the Electric Carriage and Wagon Company of Philadelphia. Electric cars, produced in the US by Anthony Electric, Baker, Detroit Electric (Anderson Electric Car Company), Edison, Studebaker, and others during the early 20th century for a time out-sold gasoline-powered vehicles.
These vehicles were successfully sold as city cars to upper-class customers and were often marketed as suitable vehicles for women drivers due to their clean, quiet and easy operation. Due to technological limitations and the lack of transistor-based electric technology, the top speed of these early electric vehicles was limited to about 32 km/h (20 mph).
By the turn of the century, America was prosperous, and cars, now available in steam, electric, or gasoline versions, were becoming more popular. The years 1899 and 1900 were the high point of electric cars in America, as they outsold all other types of cars. Electric vehicles had many advantages over their competitors in the early 1900s. They did not have the vibration, smell, and noise associated with gasoline cars. Changing gears on gasoline cars was the most difficult part of driving, and electric vehicles did not require gear changes.
While steam-powered cars also had no gear shifting, they suffered from long start-up times of up to 45 minutes on cold mornings. The steam cars had less range before needing water than an electric car's range on a single charge. The only good roads of the period were in town, causing most travel to be local commuting - a perfect situation for electric vehicles, since their range was limited.
The electric vehicle was the preferred choice of many because it did not require the manual effort to start, as with the hand crank on gasoline vehicles, and there was no wrestling wsalith a gear shifter. While basic electric cars cost under $1,000, most early electric vehicles were ornate, massive carriages designed for the upper class. They had fancy interiors, with expensive materials, and averaged $3,000 by 1910. Electric vehicles enjoyed success into the 1920s with production peaking in 1912.
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