Electric Cars: So 1907

Here I am, web surfing away, trying to do some early auto show research when all of a sudden I come across a peculiar blog post on Scientific American’s website. It should be noted this is not a regular destination for me, but there was a headline about cars in 1907, so I checked it out. There’s not much to the post itself other than images of hundred year old cars, but one stuck out to me like a sore thumb, the 1907 Electric Touring Runabout. Yep an electric car, circa 1907. 

Another reader asked about it in the post’s comments and the editor replied that the little information they had on the car came from the original caption "The runabout is capable of covering about 80 miles across country at an average speed of between 15 and 20 miles an hour. It has twenty-four 150-ampere-hour cells, a 3-horsepower motor and 5-inch pneumatics." 

That 80 mile range is pretty impressive for 100 years ago, as is the 3-hp motor pumping out 20 mph. So, what exactly has taken everyone so long to build a new one?

The Cars of The 1907 Automobile Show (Scientific American)

Comments

I'm rooting for Tesla Motors. I wish they'd take their company public, so I could invest in them. If they can get the Roadster on the road within coming months and get the planned sedan out there by 2011, they should shake things up big time - especially if they can price the sedan under $50k.

Since you're giving a history lesson I'll just mention that the first electric car was built in the 1830s: about 50 years before Mr. Benz built his Mercedes.

I assume the 1907 Electric Touring Runabout was priced at a level commensurate with the Tesla Roadster or the more upscale electric conversions of today.

I honestly believe that in a decade battery electrics will be where hybrids are now. If they can just develop bigger batteries cars won't need thousands of tiny cells and they can eliminate the expensive circuitry required to control the batteries and keep them from going into thermal runaway (i.e. fire). That and public perception are really the only roadblocks in the way.

The first gas/electric hybrid was about 100 years ago too. If memory serves, the series type was experimented with. That's what the Chevy Volt will be. What took so long indeed....

I dug into this a few years back after a debate about the existance of steam powered cars.
Gasoline certainly wasn't the only fuel option in early automobiles. The market was very unsettled about the issue of power source. Coal for making steam was popular, and electricity very popular. Lots of other methods were tried to, even using high speed flywheels you'd spin up before you left, and then have a clutch plate sort of device that'd attach to them to provide power to the wheels.
In the end, gasoline won out on it's merits. You could develop alot of power with it, a small tank gave you a great range, it was clean (compared to coal), and easy to manage since it was a liquid. But even then there were pioneering individuals trying to come up with a better alternative. Just ask Rudolph Diesel.

What has taken so long for everyone to build a new electric car indeed? We have trolleys, trams, street cars...whatever you want to call them. We even have electric golf carts. Surely someone can come up with an idea of putting an electric car on the road. I found several sites showing electric vehicles, even an electric motorcycle. I think it's time to spend more time perfecting this concept.

Hd Gasket
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