Why Electric Cars Failed 100 Years Ago

So... shall we do a steam car next? 😅

An electric car held the world speed record of 105kmh in 1899. It's on display in the car museum in Mulhouse.

Note that horses normally walk up to 30 miles in a day. So, a car that would drive 60 miles on a charge would have been great.

My great grandma died back in 1995, right before turning 102 years old. She was around from the beginning of the automobile. My dad told me a story about when he picked her up one time in his new pickup truck and he was telling her about all the features it had and she said how they were happy when they were able to have a windshield in front of them. That was back in 1980 that that happened.

Little known abroad, in Switzerland also existed an electric car manufacturer in those early days. The 'A. Tribelhorn & Cie, Fabrik elektrischer Fahrzeuge' (factory for electric cars) existed from 1906 - 1922. Tribelhorn delivered a wide range of electric vehicles, such as doctor cars, hotel buses, transporters and trucks in different sizes. Tribelhorn also set up the probably worlds first network of public charging stations at that time. Eventually he got an order for a large number of 3-wheeled electric delivery vehicles for the Swiss post, so in 1918 Tribelhorn opened a new larger factory in Zurich-Altstetten. But after manufacturing of these vehicles, the number of orders fell and with the upcoming depression of the 1920s and the competing ICE cars, he was unable to cope financially with the oversized factory.

An often overlooked point is that electricity was only available in towns and cities in 1901 and not all towns at that. Some rural areas did not get electrified until the fifties and sixties. So the electric was confined to urban use, which is where it shone. It was gas cars that put the country on wheels.

Correction: you stated 9:40, that obviously the original batteries would not last 120 years. That's a reasonable assumption. But Jay Leno's 1909 Baker Electric is still running on its original nickel iron battery, and apparently still has a range of something like 100 miles. Genuinely amazing. But it was obscenely expensive, and had a top speed of 15 MPH.

4:30 The "shock absorbers" are actually the friction between the leaves of the leaf springs. That's why they were used on wagons.

The B footage of you guys driving is just gold.

The reason we have better batteries was there was a demand for better batteries for mobile phones, if there was a demand for better battery technology they would have been developed sooner.

❤ the Brit sense of humor. Great mix of information, history, and fun!😊

What has always fascinated me is that they were there 100 years ago: electric cars, electric motors, charging, battery swapping, regen braking, 60 miles range almost 100km. However you look at it, this is amazing. I have known about this for ages, but I have never seen one in such detail as this one. Even the name "RW Recreational Vehicle" or something like that. NEO got the idea for battery swapping from this guys.

I must say I do like an electric car without a massive iPad on the dashboard

Here's the thing - it took an electric motor to "save" internal combustion engine cars. I.E. the starter motor.

Well done, Robert & Jack. It's great to see another ancient electric car in use. I've always enjoyed Jay Leno's 1906 Baker video. Back at the turn of that century, about a third of the cars were either electric, steam or gasoline powered...and they all seemed to have their unique pros and cons if you will. You're correct in most facets of this episode - it was the electric starter on ICE cars that set them apart. Combine that with the old lead-acid batteries for electrics (i.e. low power density), the difficulty of charging them back then - few homes had electric outlets yet. The first fill-up gas stations started to appear around 1906...depending upon what state you lived in. I was just shocked that this electric car that you showcased had regenerative braking...back in 1901. Wow!

What a mind-blowing in- and outro! 🤩 Not to talk about all of the facts. Simply great. 😃👍 Thank you, Bobby and Jack!! 🙏

Love this episode! So lovely to know that modern BEVs have not spoiled the advantages of the first EVs: ease of use, lack of noise, and regen breaking!

Depending on how you define a vehicle, it might be worth looking into the first hydrogen vehicle as well, which pre-dates the Waverly by 94 years (yes, 1807).

What a fun and fascinating episode! 🤩 Thank you FCS (and Mike for lending the car to them! Where did you find this car Mike?!) for bringing this to our screens!

Great video. Enjoyed the candid moments when trying to get a feel for the brakes.