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In recent years, concerns over global warming and the sustainability of fossil-fuelled transportation have led to the development of a number of hybrid electrical/petrol and fully-electrical vehicles, such as the hybrid Toyota Prius, the first generation of which was launched in 1997, and the fully-electrical Nissan Leaf, the first zero-emission car from a major manufacturer to reach the mass market. However, despite the recent activity and attention, the birth of the electric car came much earlier – the 1830s, in fact.
INITIAL DEVELOPMENTS
The initial invention of the electric vehicle has been attributed to a number of inventors. Hungarian Ányos Jedlik was responsible for the invention of an early type of electric motor in the late 1820s, and built a small model car powered by it.
Shortly after, an American inventor, Thomas Davenport, took his design of DC motor, and also powered a small model car around a short electrified track. A pair of Scotsmen, Robert Davidson and Robert Anderson, developed their own basic electric locomotives and carriages between 1832 and 1839, but the main limitation holding development back at this stage was the lack of a viable means of storing electricity on board the vehicle, in the form of rechargeable batteries. These did not emerge until the mid-1850s. A number of other variants followed, but it wasn’t until the 1890s that an electric car in the sense that we know it today appeared. This was developed by William Morrison of Iowa, and was a vehicle capable of carrying six passengers.
Following initial interest and development, electric cars began to lose ground to those powered by the newer internal combustion engine. Their low range meant they could not traverse long distances, and the development of improved road infrastructure required cars that could cover these distances.
Petrol became more affordable, making internal combustion cars cheaper to operate over a distance, and the lack of public recharging facilities was another of the main limiting factors for the electric vehicle.
REVIVAL OF INTEREST DUE TO GLOBAL WARMING CONCERNS
The Western World went through two oil and energy crises in the 1970s and 1980s, and during these periods, and into the 1990s, scientific bodies began to express concern about the sustainability of transport systems based on the use of fossil-derived fuel, as in petrol (or gasoline). One of the major events that focused public attention on the direction that the motor industry would take was the unveiling in 1990 of General Motors’ Impact concept car, and their announcement of the intention to design and build electric cars for the general public.
A further energy crisis in the 2000s proved to be a tipping point, however, and this, along with increased public focus on energy saving solutions, brought about a significant jump in the sales of one of the high-profile hybrid vehicles, the Toyota Prius. Toyota had launched the Prius to some markets in 1999, to limited appeal, but the energy crisis, combined with its purchase, use, and sometimes public endorsement by high-profile Hollywood stars, sealed its popularity.
A number of other makers jumped on the bandwagon, with the release of other hybrid vehicles, and more time and money was given over to the development of fully-electrical vehicles.
The global recession of the late 2000s led to public demands that the motor industry scale back its production of large, fuel-inefficient vehicles, which some saw as symbolic or representative of the excesses which led to the recession in the first place, in favor of smaller cars in general, as well as hybrid and fully-electrical cars.
Models to have emerged since then include the Nissan Leaf, which was the first fully-electric zero-emission car to be produced for the general public by a major manufacturer, and the Tesla Roadster, first introduced in 2008. The Roadster was the first ‘highway capable’ electric vehicle to use lithium-ion batteries, and also the first production all-electric car to achieve more than 200 miles range from a single charge.
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