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The development of electric cars was determined by the development of electric drives. In 1821 Michael Faraday was the first, who showed that it was possible to cause a continuous rotation by electromagnetism. In the following time many different versions of electric vehicles with several battery- and electromotor-systems came up.
The great time of electric cars (1896-1912)[edit | edit source]
In 1887 the Central European Motor Vehicle Society was founded in Berlin. They declared three types of self-sufficient motor vehicles: the ones, that are powered by steam, the vehicles with combustion engines and the electric vehicles. For the steam-powered vehicles they predicted a use on railroads and in heavy road vehicles. Furthermore, they expected the oil-powered vehicles to be used in the lands and the electric vehicles on cityrails and the streets of the cities. The range of the electric cars in that time was about 100 kilometers. This is comparable to the range of today's electric cars. In the United States their amount on the streets was at 38% in 1900. That was 16% more than the amount of vehicles with combustion engines. The electric car's decline began in 1910, when gasoline-driven cars did not have to be started by cranking anymore. Also their distinctly larger range and the cheap oil caused a fall in demand for electric cars with their high-sensible batteries. Even car producer Henry Ford changed the functionality of his car models from ethanol to fuel powered engines. After WWI the electric cars were not important in the public traffic anymore.
