The Past and Future of Electric Transportation

Article by Peter Roos

Defeated 110 Years Ago, Electric Vehicles are making a huge comeback and may surpass internal combustion engines in the 21st century.

BY PETER A. ROOS

The history of electric vehicles (EVs) in the United States is well documented.  The Wikipedia entry for electric vehicles chronicles early EV’s from the 1830’s through the end of the century, and says “Electric vehicles were among the earliest automobiles, and before the preeminence of light, powerful internal combustion engines, electric automobiles held many vehicle land speed and distance records in the early 1900s. They were produced by Baker Electric, Columbia ElectricDetroit Electric, and others, and at one point in history out-sold gasoline-powered vehicles. In fact, in 1900, 28 percent of the cars on the road in the USA were electric. EVs were so popular that even President Woodrow Wilson and his secret service agents toured Washington DC in a Milburn Electrics, which covered 60–70 miles / charge.” 

An article entitled “Fabulous Firsts” in the 2020 (202nd) edition of the Farmers Almanac includes a section on the first electric car. “In 1890, electric cars were outselling internal combustion engines by 10-1. Oldsmobile and Studebaker first built electric cars and the first car dealership in the US sold only electric cars. A 1907 illustrated guide to autos showed 69 different EV’s available in the U.S.. Baker Electric even developed a roadster that could go 200 miles per charge.

In his 2002 The Electric Vehicle and the Burden of History, author David Kirsch’s begins, “At the dawn of the automobile era, in the late 1890s, steam, gasoline, and electric cars all competed to become the dominant automotive technology. By the early 1900s, the battle was over, and internal combustion was poised to become the prime mover of the twentieth century.” Kirsch says “No electric car since 1902, regardless of battery or drive train, had been able to compete effectively against its contemporary internal combustion counterpart.” That was in 2000.

By 2020, just 2 decades later, everything had changed. Why? The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences can answer that. They just awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 to three scientists who developed lithium-ion battery technology. Stanley Whittingham, of Germany in the late 70’s  first proposed using lithium ions, John Goodenough of the UK improved the cathode in the 80’s and then Akira Yoshino of Japan who perfected the technology and built the  “Lithium-ion batteries have revolutionized our lives since they first entered the market in 1991. They have laid the foundation of a wireless, fossil fuel-free society, and are of the greatest benefit to humankind.”

General Motors entry to the modern EV market was an unsuccessful rollout of an EV1 in the late 1990’s. They only leased 288 of them, before, in spite of “almost maniacal acceptance” or perhaps because of it, most of them were recalled and crushed or donated to museums. 

The 2010–2018 Chevy Volt was a huge technological success. An electric car with 1.4 liter backup gas generator (range extender) aboard, in our experience at least, the Volt has proven to be a reliable, fun and satisfying car to drive for the past five years. The feeling of driving on solar power is nothing short of amazing. Replacing the original tires at 36,000 miles is the first work we have had to do on them. The Chevy Bolt and Nissan Leaf were the leaders in the “affordable EV class” for a few years..

Tesla’s have been leading the way in the luxury electric car field, but that field is expected to get crowded soon. Tesla’s growing nationwide charging network is a definite competitive advantage, however a recent joint venture between  In the meantime, Tesla’s new model is directly competitive pricewise to the Volt starting at $35,000.

Ford Motors plans to offer their first true EV, an electric crossover SUV in 2020, that is styled after the Mustang. Ford just announced a plan to also offer a nationwide network of 35,000 charger plugs through a FordPass app, more than twice the size of Tesla’s network. While Tesla’s chargers can only be used by Tesla (TSLA) cars, the chargers in the FordPass network will work with most other electric cars. The chargers in the FordPass network will be operated by different companies.

The charging network will include fast chargers that can rapidly juice up a vehicle’s battery to about 80% in about 40 minutes, in some cases. While the chargers themselves will work with many different cars, only Ford drivers will be able to use the FordPass app.

As electric cars have made a comeback, so have applications for electric buses. The adoption of electric buses, mainly by municipal governments, has accelerated in recent years, increasing more than 80-fold between 2011 and 2017. But cities still have a long way to go. Investment in electric buses and other low-carbon technologies needs to double over the next two decades to keep global warming below safe thresholds.

China now accounts for 99% of electric buses, led by Shenzhen (connecting Hong Kong to the mainland), where the fleet of more than 16,300 buses have been 100% electric since 2017.

The City of St. Pete Beach is taking a step in this direction, initially just in Pass-a-Grille, by cutting off Trolley service at the Don CeSar and adopting FREEbee electric vehicles in their place. This new FREE app-based service is the subject of Paradise NEWS November 2019 feature story by Steve Traiman.

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