The element of the population that does the car jackings knew their places back then and the fact that they would have been beaten within an inch of their lives before any trial.
They fell out of favor for the obvious reasons. AND the federals weren't supplying thousands of dollars in phony money rebates, so the market dried up. Just like it would today.
Reading about the history of the vehicle, when Henry Ford was charging $400 for a Model T, Oliver Fritchle was asking $2000. That’s a little over $100,000 in today’s dollars. So, even the price differential is about the same. EVs are the Betamax of today’s auto industry.
I've read that in 1906 there were more electric cars than gas engined cars in North America. The majority of electric were inner city vehicles, the very rich owners would drive them to the restaurant or the theatre so they could arrive in style. In 1908 Ford introduced the Model T and the electric car couldn't compete, especially in rural areas where many farms didn't have electricity. Al_in_Ottawa
As a kid growing up near San Francisco, I remember seeing tons of electric busses getting power from overhead wires, of course, they ripped out all that and went diesel.....
We had those in Hull in England. They were called trolley buses. They didn't run on rails like trams, they ran on the normal roads. The poles that linked them to the overhead cables were quite long so that they had some degree of flexibility as to where they could go on the road. I'm 64 now and one of my earliest memories was of riding on one, I must have been about three years old as they disappeared in around 1962
In my city, as the story goes, a rather large network of cable cars was removed from service in the 1950s after some pressure from General Motors corporation so that diesel buses could replace them. The infrastructure (things like hydro dams) that costs billions and billions these days could have been built for a tiny fraction of the cost, and put on land that now is untouchable either because of treaties from 100+ years ago that suddenly matter again, or these insane UNESCO designations, and generating revenue and power for the better part of a century.
Notice that it is marketed as a lady's car. Women and doctors used electrics because women didn't have the strength to start a car and doctors didn't want to deal with all that in the middle of the night. The self starter doomed the electric car to its well deserved death.
From what I understand, there were fewer car-jackings back then too....
ReplyDeleteThe element of the population that does the car jackings knew their places back then and the fact that they would have been beaten within an inch of their lives before any trial.
DeleteThey fell out of favor for the obvious reasons. AND the federals weren't supplying thousands of dollars in phony money rebates, so the market dried up.
ReplyDeleteJust like it would today.
Reading about the history of the vehicle, when Henry Ford was charging $400 for a Model T, Oliver Fritchle was asking $2000. That’s a little over $100,000 in today’s dollars. So, even the price differential is about the same. EVs are the Betamax of today’s auto industry.
ReplyDeleteI've read that in 1906 there were more electric cars than gas engined cars in North America. The majority of electric were inner city vehicles, the very rich owners would drive them to the restaurant or the theatre so they could arrive in style.
ReplyDeleteIn 1908 Ford introduced the Model T and the electric car couldn't compete, especially in rural areas where many farms didn't have electricity.
Al_in_Ottawa
As a kid growing up near San Francisco, I remember seeing tons of electric busses getting power from overhead wires, of course, they ripped out all that and went diesel.....
DeleteWe had those in Hull in England. They were called trolley buses. They didn't run on rails like trams, they ran on the normal roads. The poles that linked them to the overhead cables were quite long so that they had some degree of flexibility as to where they could go on the road. I'm 64 now and one of my earliest memories was of riding on one, I must have been about three years old as they disappeared in around 1962
DeleteIn my city, as the story goes, a rather large network of cable cars was removed from service in the 1950s after some pressure from General Motors corporation so that diesel buses could replace them. The infrastructure (things like hydro dams) that costs billions and billions these days could have been built for a tiny fraction of the cost, and put on land that now is untouchable either because of treaties from 100+ years ago that suddenly matter again, or these insane UNESCO designations, and generating revenue and power for the better part of a century.
DeleteAaaaaaannnnd back then (as today) them lead-acid batteries are 98% recyclable. Some were even re-buildable!
ReplyDeleteLess likely that the lead acid battery would explode or burn your garage down too.
DeleteYes. Doesn't take a tremendous amount of BTUs to melt down and purify the lead. And those huge batteries in industrial trucks are rebuildable.
DeleteNotice that it is marketed as a lady's car. Women and doctors used electrics because women didn't have the strength to start a car and doctors didn't want to deal with all that in the middle of the night. The self starter doomed the electric car to its well deserved death.
ReplyDelete