Electric Cars Existed 50 Years Before Gasoline Ones — Then the World Forgot

Key Takeaways

• •First electric carriage built in 1832 — decades before the internal combustion engine
• •In 1900, 38% of US cars were electric, 40% steam, only 22% gasoline
• •Electric cars were preferred by women and city dwellers for being clean and quiet
• •The Ford Model T and cheap gasoline killed the first EV era by 1935

Source: Dept. of Energy

Timeline

In 1900, if you walked down a street in New York City, most of the cars you'd see would be electric.

Not gasoline. Not horse-drawn. Electric.

This isn't a thought experiment. It's history. At the turn of the 20th century, electric cars outsold gasoline cars in America. They were quieter, cleaner, easier to drive, and didn't require a dangerous hand-crank to start. The Electric Vehicle Company operated a fleet of electric taxis in New York, and wealthy urbanites considered them the sophisticated choice.

The first electric vehicle wasn't even American. In 1832, Scottish inventor Robert Anderson built a crude electric carriage powered by non-rechargeable cells. By 1884, Thomas Parker — the man who electrified the London Underground — had built the first practical production electric car in England. In 1890, American chemist William Morrison created a six-passenger electric vehicle in Des Moines, Iowa, with a top speed of 14 mph.

In 1900, if you were rich and lived in a city, you drove electric. Gasoline was for farmers and adventurers. The hierarchy has come full circle.

By 1900, the US car market was split three ways: 40% steam, 38% electric, 22% gasoline. Gasoline was the underdog.

Electric cars had real advantages. They didn't vibrate. They didn't stink. They didn't require gear changes. Women drivers — yes, there were many — overwhelmingly preferred electrics because they didn't need the upper body strength required to hand-crank a gasoline engine.

So what killed them?

Three things happened in rapid succession. First, Henry Ford's assembly line made the Model T absurdly cheap — $850 in 1908, dropping to $260 by 1925. Electric cars cost $1,750 or more. Second, the discovery of Texas oil in 1901 made gasoline cheap and abundant. Third, in 1912, Charles Kettering invented the electric starter motor, eliminating the dangerous hand-crank and removing the last practical advantage of electrics.

GM built the perfect electric car in 1996. Then they literally crushed every single one.

By 1935, electric cars had essentially vanished from American roads. They wouldn't return for 60 years.

The comeback began quietly. In 1996, General Motors released the EV1 — a sleek, fast, modern electric car that drivers loved. It had a 100-mile range and devoted fans. Then GM did something extraordinary: they recalled every single EV1 and crushed them in the desert. The story was documented in the film "Who Killed the Electric Car?"

The real resurrection came in 2008 when Tesla released the Roadster, proving that electric cars could be fast, beautiful, and desirable. Today, EVs account for over 25% of new car sales worldwide.

The electric car didn't fail because it was bad technology. It failed because gasoline got cheap and Henry Ford figured out mass production. The root of the EV revolution isn't Elon Musk or lithium batteries — it's a Scottish inventor in 1832 and a fleet of electric taxis in 1900s New York.

The future of transportation is electric. It always was.

How did this make you feel?

Recommended Gear

Keep Reading

Mobility Tech

Ride-Sharing Was Invented During World War I — Not by Uber

5 min read

Mobility Tech

The E-Scooter Invasion Traces Back to a 1915 'Autoped' That Suffragettes Rode

5 min read

Mobility Tech

DARPA's Self-Driving Cars All Failed in 2004 — Now Waymo Does 450,000 Rides a Week

6 min read