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General History?
- Thread starter tonybelding
- Start date
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- Tesla Inc.
Second Edition
I got my hands on Electric and Hybrid Cars: A History, Second Edition by Curtis D. Anderson and Judy Anderson. This is an update to the book that I looked at way back at the beginning of this thread. The first edition is marked 2005 and the second is marked 2010. So... A five-year update.
It really has only minor updates from the original. Since Tesla got the Roadster into production during the intervening period (between editions) and was showing prototypes of the Model S (the book has a photo of it, and two photos of the Fisker Karma), I hoped there would be a bit more Tesla coverage. However, it amounts to only a few extra paragraphs and in no way impacts the trajectory or conclusions of the book. Likewise, the Chevy Volt apparently hadn't gone into production at the time when the book went to press, and the authors merely mention in in passing, but give little indication that they assign any importance to it. (They write much more about GM's HFCV test vehicles.) The Nissan Leaf is never mentioned.
This book is frustrating in a number of ways. I think the pre-WW1 coverage is pretty decent. The coverage of modern hybrid cars, the Prius and Insight and those that followed, is OK. The "mid-century" doldrums -- after WW2 but before the EV1 -- are given extremely terse and spotty consideration. It's true that there were no real EV success stories during that period (the Citicar/CommutaCar probably comes closest), but that doesn't mean the failures aren't worthy of study. I find them fascinating, and looking at why they were attempted and why they failed can teach us much. The authors of this book, I guess, just didn't see it that way.
Another huge frustration is the book's failure to recognize the significance of recent events. Well, it's billed as a history book, not a news magazine. History books are often weak as their subject matter approaches the present day, and there is less perspective of time to work with. I understand that. However, there are a few spots in this volume where the contradictions really get to be too much. Selected examples:
"Dramatic improvement in battery technology is still needed if the industry is to develop a marketable electric car."
"It is obvious, based on the limited progress over one hundred years, that a new battery technology that would increase range and decrease costs dramatically will not take place overnight or in the near future, if ever. This may leave the battery-only vehicles in a niche market."
Of course, as we all know, the "new battery technology" they wish for had already been introduced when Tesla started shipping cars with Li-ion battery packs. Yes, they were (and are) too expensive, but that's not a technology problem, that's just a manufacturing economics problem, and the means to resolving it are well understood.
Even as the authors ignore the breakthrough in battery technology happening right in front of them, they gush about hydrogen fuel cells. At length.
"Solar hydrogen refueling stations became a reality and are quietly and slowly entering the marketplace. In 2001, Honda opened a station in Torrence, California. The system uses photovoltaic (PV) cells and electrolysis to extract the hydrogen from water."
So... Even though BEVs with Li-ion batteries were already shipping to customers, they brush that aside as barely relevant, yet they feel a single experimental hydrogen station with solar power means the revolution is underway? Really?
The book is also, in my view, poorly organized. It's divided into chapters on: The Evolution of the Electric Vehicle, Politics, Environment, Technology, Marketing, and Conclusion. Most of the actual EV history is contained in the first chapter, which is only 40 pages! No wonder it's sketchy, eh? I would rather have expanded that chapter into an entire book, and then merely touched upon the other subjects along the way.
I find myself wondering if this was written primarily as a middle school textbook.
I got my hands on Electric and Hybrid Cars: A History, Second Edition by Curtis D. Anderson and Judy Anderson. This is an update to the book that I looked at way back at the beginning of this thread. The first edition is marked 2005 and the second is marked 2010. So... A five-year update.
It really has only minor updates from the original. Since Tesla got the Roadster into production during the intervening period (between editions) and was showing prototypes of the Model S (the book has a photo of it, and two photos of the Fisker Karma), I hoped there would be a bit more Tesla coverage. However, it amounts to only a few extra paragraphs and in no way impacts the trajectory or conclusions of the book. Likewise, the Chevy Volt apparently hadn't gone into production at the time when the book went to press, and the authors merely mention in in passing, but give little indication that they assign any importance to it. (They write much more about GM's HFCV test vehicles.) The Nissan Leaf is never mentioned.
This book is frustrating in a number of ways. I think the pre-WW1 coverage is pretty decent. The coverage of modern hybrid cars, the Prius and Insight and those that followed, is OK. The "mid-century" doldrums -- after WW2 but before the EV1 -- are given extremely terse and spotty consideration. It's true that there were no real EV success stories during that period (the Citicar/CommutaCar probably comes closest), but that doesn't mean the failures aren't worthy of study. I find them fascinating, and looking at why they were attempted and why they failed can teach us much. The authors of this book, I guess, just didn't see it that way.
Another huge frustration is the book's failure to recognize the significance of recent events. Well, it's billed as a history book, not a news magazine. History books are often weak as their subject matter approaches the present day, and there is less perspective of time to work with. I understand that. However, there are a few spots in this volume where the contradictions really get to be too much. Selected examples:
"Dramatic improvement in battery technology is still needed if the industry is to develop a marketable electric car."
"It is obvious, based on the limited progress over one hundred years, that a new battery technology that would increase range and decrease costs dramatically will not take place overnight or in the near future, if ever. This may leave the battery-only vehicles in a niche market."
Of course, as we all know, the "new battery technology" they wish for had already been introduced when Tesla started shipping cars with Li-ion battery packs. Yes, they were (and are) too expensive, but that's not a technology problem, that's just a manufacturing economics problem, and the means to resolving it are well understood.
Even as the authors ignore the breakthrough in battery technology happening right in front of them, they gush about hydrogen fuel cells. At length.
"Solar hydrogen refueling stations became a reality and are quietly and slowly entering the marketplace. In 2001, Honda opened a station in Torrence, California. The system uses photovoltaic (PV) cells and electrolysis to extract the hydrogen from water."
So... Even though BEVs with Li-ion batteries were already shipping to customers, they brush that aside as barely relevant, yet they feel a single experimental hydrogen station with solar power means the revolution is underway? Really?
The book is also, in my view, poorly organized. It's divided into chapters on: The Evolution of the Electric Vehicle, Politics, Environment, Technology, Marketing, and Conclusion. Most of the actual EV history is contained in the first chapter, which is only 40 pages! No wonder it's sketchy, eh? I would rather have expanded that chapter into an entire book, and then merely touched upon the other subjects along the way.
I find myself wondering if this was written primarily as a middle school textbook.
I also have a copy of "The Electric Car and the Burden of History". I agree with the poster in post #2 of this thread that it is an incredibly dry read, with relatively few photos and figures to break up the monotony. However it does have some very interesting nuggets of information I've not read elsewhere.
Is there a better book covering the pre-WW 1 electric cars? It would be interesting if one would go through the various manufacturers, with model and production data, technical data, etc. And of course lots of photos of surviving cars.
Is there a better book covering the pre-WW 1 electric cars? It would be interesting if one would go through the various manufacturers, with model and production data, technical data, etc. And of course lots of photos of surviving cars.
