Looking back to electric cars

Abstract

Very early experimental electric cars appeared just after electromagnetism was discovered, in 1820. During the nineteenth century they underwent improvements, staying in advance of internal combustion engines. A breakthrough came with the inventions of the rechargeable battery and of powerful and efficient electric motors, around 1870. Electrics peaked around the turn of the century, when they hold 38% of the automobile market in the US, compared with 40% of steam and 22% internal combustion. Their decline started in the second decade of the twentieth century when the internal combustion engine had a major boost, thanks to important advancements in the infrastructure, product and production technologies.