The Electric Car Was Invented in 1832. Then Oil Killed It for 100 Years.

Key Takeaways

• •The first electric car was built in 1832 by Robert Anderson, 54 years before Karl Benz's gasoline car (1886)
• •In 1900, 38% of US cars were electric. The Electric Vehicle Company was the largest American automaker.
• •The Model T ($260 by 1924) killed electrics ($1,750+). Economics, not technology, decided the winner.
• •GM's EV1 (1996-2003): 1,117 units leased, all physically crushed despite driver protests
• •Global EV sales hit 17M in 2024. China produces 60% of the world's EVs. The 1900 market share is being reclaimed.

Timeline

The electric car is not new technology.

This is the single most important thing most people get wrong about EVs. They think Tesla invented something. They think Elon Musk created a category. They think the electric car is a 21st-century innovation.

The electric car was built in 1832. One hundred and ninety-four years ago.

Robert Anderson, a Scottish inventor, constructed the first crude electric carriage using non-rechargeable primary cells. It was impractical for daily use, but it proved the concept: you could move a vehicle with electricity.

By the 1880s, practical electric cars existed. Thomas Parker built the first production electric car in Wolverhampton, England, in 1884. That was two years before Karl Benz patented his gasoline-powered Motorwagen in 1886.

Let that register. The electric car predates the gasoline car.

In 1900, the Electric Vehicle Company was the largest automaker in America. Electric cars were quiet, clean, easy to start, and popular with urban drivers. Then Henry Ford figured out how to make gas cars cost $260, and the oil industry figured out how to make gas stations appear on every corner. The electric car didn't lose on technology. It lost on economics and infrastructure.

— Bryte

By 1900, the American automobile market looked nothing like what came after. Of the 4,192 cars produced in the US that year, 1,575 were electric (38%), 1,681 were steam-powered (40%), and only 936 were gasoline (22%). Electric cars outsold gas cars nearly two to one.

The Electric Vehicle Company, based in New Jersey, was the largest automobile manufacturer in America. Their electric taxis operated in New York City, Chicago, and other major cities. They were quiet, clean, emitted no exhaust, and (crucially) didn't require hand-cranking to start. Gasoline cars required a hand-crank that could break your arm if it kicked back. Electric cars had a switch.

For urban driving in 1900, electric cars were objectively superior. They were easier to operate, cleaner, quieter, and safer to start. The only downside was range (about 30 to 40 miles per charge) and the lack of charging infrastructure outside cities.

So what happened?

Three things killed the electric car. None of them were technological.

First: Henry Ford and the assembly line. In 1908, Ford introduced the Model T at $850. By 1924, mass production had driven the price down to $260. Meanwhile, electric cars cost $1,750 or more. The price gap was devastating. A working family could afford a Model T. An electric car was a luxury.

Second: cheap oil. The discovery of massive oil reserves in Texas (Spindletop, 1901) made gasoline dirt cheap. A national network of gas stations appeared within two decades. Refueling took minutes. Recharging an electric car took hours. The infrastructure battle was over before it started.

GM built the EV1 in 1996. Drivers loved it. GM crushed every single one by 2003. Literally crushed them. The official reason: insufficient demand. The drivers who leased them begged GM to let them buy the cars. GM said no and sent the cars to the junkyard. The documentary 'Who Killed the Electric Car?' (2006) argues the oil industry, dealers, and regulators all played a role.

— Bryte

Third: the electric starter. In 1912, Charles Kettering invented the electric starter motor for gasoline cars, eliminating the dangerous hand-crank. The last practical advantage of electric cars (easy starting) vanished overnight.

By 1920, the electric car was effectively dead. Gas was cheap. Gas stations were everywhere. Ford's assembly line made gas cars affordable. The interstate highway system (built for gas cars, funded partly by gas taxes) cemented the dominance.

The electric car didn't lose because it was worse technology. It lost because the entire economic and infrastructure ecosystem was built around its competitor.

For the next 75 years, the electric car existed only in golf carts, forklifts, and the occasional experimental prototype.

Then, in 1996, something remarkable happened.

General Motors launched the EV1, the first modern mass-produced electric car. It was sleek, fast (0 to 60 in about 8 seconds), and had a range of 70 to 100 miles. GM leased 1,117 of them in California and Arizona.

Drivers loved the EV1. They formed communities. They evangelized the car. When GM announced it was ending the program in 2003, drivers organized protests. They offered to buy the cars at full price. GM refused.

Then GM collected every single EV1 and sent them to be crushed. Physically destroyed. 1,117 cars, flattened into scrap.

The official reason: insufficient consumer demand. The drivers who had begged to buy the cars disagreed. The 2006 documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" argues that the oil industry, car dealerships (which profit from maintenance that EVs don't need), hydrogen fuel cell lobbyists, and California regulators all played roles in killing the EV1.

Whether you buy the conspiracy theory or the business explanation, the visual is undeniable: a car that people loved, destroyed by its own manufacturer.

The resurrection came from an unlikely source.

In 2003, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded Tesla Motors (named after Nikola Tesla, the inventor of the AC motor). Their thesis was simple: electric cars don't have to be boring. Build a fast, beautiful electric sports car, and the market will follow.

In 2008, Tesla delivered the first Roadster. It was based on a Lotus Elise chassis, did 0 to 60 in 3.7 seconds, and had a range of 245 miles. It cost $109,000. It was not for everyone. That was the point.

Tesla's strategy (start luxury, scale down) was the inverse of Ford's strategy (start cheap, scale up). But both understood the same thing: you win the market by making the economics work.

The Model S (2012) proved electric sedans could be premium. The Model 3 (2017) proved they could be mass-market. By 2024, Tesla had delivered over 6 million cars. But Tesla was no longer alone.

Every major automaker now sells electric vehicles. BYD in China has surpassed Tesla in total EV sales. Volkswagen, Hyundai, BMW, Mercedes, Ford, GM, and dozens of Chinese manufacturers are producing EVs at scale. Global EV sales exceeded 17 million units in 2024, representing about 20% of all new car sales.

The infrastructure is catching up too. There are over 2.7 million public charging points globally. Battery costs have fallen 90% since 2010 (from $1,100 per kWh to about $130 per kWh). Range anxiety, once the primary objection, is fading as most new EVs exceed 250 miles per charge.

China dominates: 60% of global EV production, 70% of battery manufacturing, and the most aggressive government incentive programs. Chinese EVs (BYD, NIO, XPeng, Li Auto) are now entering European and Southeast Asian markets at price points that undercut Western competitors.

The geopolitics of EVs mirror the geopolitics of oil. The country that controls the supply chain (batteries, minerals, manufacturing) controls the next century of transportation. In the 20th century, that was the Middle East and oil. In the 21st century, it might be China and lithium.

Here's what strikes me about this story.

Robert Anderson built an electric car in 1832. It took 194 years, billions of dollars, climate change, a documentary about crushed GM cars, and a startup named after a Serbian inventor to bring it back.

The technology was always there. What changed was the economics, the infrastructure, and (eventually) the political will.

In 1900, the electric car was winning. Then oil, assembly lines, and cheap gasoline buried it for a century. In 2026, the electric car is winning again.

Same technology. Same advantages. Different century.

That's not innovation. That's resurrection.

(Sources: US Department of Energy, International Energy Agency, Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Tesla Annual Reports, BloombergNEF Battery Price Survey, Edison Electric Institute, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" (2006))

Enjoy This Article?

RootByte is 100% independent - no paywalls, no corporate sponsors. Your support helps fund education, therapy for special needs kids, and keeps the research going.

How did this make you feel?

Recommended Gear

Keep Reading

Mobility Tech

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

7 min read

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