38% Of American Cars Were Electric In 1900
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In 1898, Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, when 23 years old, built his first car, and it was the Lohner Electric Chaise. Also in 1898, Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat of Paris set a world speed record in a car, which happened to be in his electric Jeantaud. The speed record was 39.245 mph (62.8 km/h), but that was crushed a few days later by another electric car that went 65.79 mph (105.88 km/h).
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By 1900, in the United States, 38% of US automobiles, 33,842 cars, were powered by electricity (40% were powered by steam, and 22% by gasoline).
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In around 1914, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison were collaborating on an electric vehicle. “Within a year, I hope, we shall begin the manufacture of an electric automobile. I don’t like to talk about things which are a year ahead, but I am willing to tell you something of my plans. The fact is that Mr. Edison and I have been working for some years on an electric automobile which would be cheap and practicable.”
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Henry Ford’s wife, Clara, actually preferred an EV over a Ford gasmobile. Her preferred brand seemed to be Detroit Electric.
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President Woodrow Wilson had a Milburn Electric for riding around in Washington, D.C.
His wife, Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, liked electric cars too. According to the Library of Congress, she was the first woman to drive an electric car in the District of Columbia, a trip that took place in 1904. ... The cost of the vehicle amounted to $1600 in 1904 (equivalent to about $44,000 in 2017).
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