It seems like a 21st century invention, yet theelectric car it’s almost as old as the car itself. At the end of the 19th century, before petrol dominated the streets, vehicles such as the electric taxi Bersey Cab they were already circulating around London and Ferdinand Porsche himself was designing advanced electric and hybrid models. These first electric cars had notable advantages: they were silent, they did not produce smoke and, above all, they did not require the tiring and dangerous crank for starting. Yet within a few decades, the internal combustion car won the battle overwhelmingly, and electric disappeared for almost a century. What went wrong? The answer lies not in a single factor, but in a mix of technological limitations of batteriesthe rise of cheap oil and the revolution of mass production started by Henry Ford with the Ford Model T.
First electric cars in history
To better understand the practical limitations that decreed the first failure of the electric car, it is worth looking at two concrete examples that, in different ways, marked that era: an ambitious taxi project in London and an incredibly advanced hybrid and electric vehicle, designed by a name that will become legend, Ferdinand Porsche. Subsequently, the discovery of new oil fields made gasoline more available and less expensive. The automobile and oil industries were well established. There strategic choice of companies and governments it favored development and infrastructure linked to petrol rather than the spread of electric.
The London electric taxi
The electric taxi Bersey Electric Cab introduced in London in 1897, it was one of the first examples of an electric vehicle and served as a test: around 75 vehicles in service, with limited range (around 50 km), maximum speed of 50 km/h and high weights (almost 2 tonnes) due to the batteries and chassis. They were withdrawn as early as 1899 due to costs and technical problems. This case shows how, already at the dawn of the automobile, the electric encountered serious obstacles also due to urban conditions, such as traffic and slow charging.
The Lohner–Porsche model
The Lohner–Porsche model it was designed by Ferdinand Porsche in the early 20th century and represents an advanced example of an electric vehicle of the time, in Austria. It used electric motors mounted in each wheel in the pure electric model. It also existed in hybrid version which combined petrol engine and electric motors. This model demonstrates that cutting-edge electric cars already existed over a century ago.
Why were electric cars initially abandoned?
The first reason lies in battery technology. Lead batteries and other expensive, heavy technologies were used, with limited autonomy and long charging times. The combustion engine, in contrast, was much more practical.
For electric cars, then, the electricity grid was not yet present in many places, especially in rural or extra-urban areas and its expansion was slow. Petrol service stations, however, spread rapidly, oil became cheap and refueling was quick. There mass production of petrol cars developed and dramatically lowered costs. The famous model Ford Model T with the assembly line he managed to reduce the price. Starting the electric starter for the ignition eliminated one of the perceived advantages of electric vehicles, namely the absence of a crank to start the combustion engines. Electric cars therefore remained more expensive for a single vehicle and were unable to be competitive in terms of price and autonomy.
In the beginning, cars were often used in cities for short trips. Electric cars were well suited to this area but with the expansion of roads, motorways and the distances traveled also for tourism, the car had to travel longer distances. The advent of more powerful and higher speed engines made the combustion car the dominant choice while electric cars therefore remained limited.
