Oldest electric car?

[Gynob001]

When I was Omaha, Nebraska last week, I came across a 1920 Rauh & Lang Electric car. On a single charge, it gave about 70 miles! Apparently the owner paid $4000 at that time and drove 1906 miles!

 

[mrjedistud]

My understanding is that there was a car called the baker from 1909 that was an electric. Jay Leno has one and was talking about it on a Tesla review. You can see the video on youtube, look for jays garage or something like that.

 

[ProSkeptic]

Not even close:

Electric car - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[HankLloydRight]

What's ironic is that you can tour Thomas Edison's house in New Jersey, including his garage where there are 3 or 4 electric cars AND CHARGING stations. I took a bunch of pics of the cars and storyboards -- I'll try to dig them up and post them later today.

Considering the Current Wars with Nikola Tesla and the advent of the Tesla EVs, it's all very surreal to think Edison had several EVs.

 

[donv]

Henry Ford's wife had an EV! She preferred it for in-town driving because it was quiet, easy to operate, and didn't have smelly exhaust.

There is an episode of Chasing Classic Cars where they take one of those early EVs out for a drive.

 

[CatB]

At the Kennett Square event this past weekend, the MDVolt group ended up with a few of our cars next to a 1916 EV. I got to sit in it as the docent showed me brake, throttle, ignition and ... Tiller

 

[stevem]

It's not the oldest but on Drive Electric Week in Morristown this Sat is a 1917 Detroit Electric Model 68.

National Drive Electric Week Event - Morristown

 

[NigelM]

In June I snapped this pic at the Science Museum in London of an 1897 Bersey Taxi owned back then by the London Electrical Cab Company. At their peak there was a fleet of 75 of these driving around London.

Also found this video about it:

BTW, if you're ever in London almost all of the museums and art galleries are free of charge to enter; just leave a voluntary donation if you enjoy your visit.

 

[jct_4628]

It's my understanding that at one point there were more electric cars than gas.

 

[jerry33]

It's my understanding that at one point there were more electric cars than gas.

Correct. Gas cars only became more popular after the electric starter motor was invented.

 

[Larry Chanin]

It's not the oldest but on Drive Electric Week in Morristown this Sat is a 1917 Detroit Electric Model 68.

National Drive Electric Week Event - Morristown

Last year our Florida Tesla club visited the Elliott Museum in Stuart, Florida. They have a 1914 Detroit Electric.

It does have a lot more headroom than a Model S.


Here some more information:

1914 Detroit Electric Car at the Elliott Museum

Larry

 

[ProSkeptic]

It does have a lot more headroom than a Model S.

Something tells me that its coefficient of drag is substantially higher than that of the Model S, too.