Electric Cars: The History Of Electric Vehicles

1 What is an Electric Vehicle?
An electric vehicle is different from a gasoline powered vehicle. It is powered instead by an electric motor that receives current from rechargeable storage batteries, or portable sources of electrical energy.
1.1 Why Electric Vehicles
The search for means to limit pollution caused an interest in electric vehicles. There are two types of pollution that we face in this society. Air pollution is caused by gasoline burning internal combustion engine that causes lung problems such as bronchitis, asthma and lung cancer. Noise pollution is also a problem with this type of engine. Excessive noise on regular basis has been shown to jeopardize physical and mental welfare. [1]
Electric vehicles can help with the problems

In the early years, England and France were the first nations to experiment with electric vehicles with the United States showing some interest in about 1895. The general perception of the electric vehicle was that it had many advantages over gasoline powered cars. It was clean, silent, free from vibrations, thoroughly reliable, easy to start and control, and produced no dirt or odor. The disadvantages were short range and high initial cost. It was not as cheap to run as other forms of transportation and could average only about 18 miles per day, but this met the needs of much of the population in the larger cities. Electric vehicles outsold all other types of cars in the year 1899 and 1900. A wide variety of automobiles were built when designers experimented with different body styles and engine

Every gallon of gasoline saved was important to the war effort on both sides. Germany took advantage of the use of electric vehicles and promoted their use by making them tax-exempt. They had over 27,000 electric vehicles in service. In England, some realized that if electric vehicles could replace even more gasoline powered cars in the transport of everyday items, it might free up gallons of gasoline each year that could be directed to military needs. Air pollution caused by gasoline engines was beginning to be of concern and a number of small firms were set up to try and meet what was seen to be a new demand. Most vehicles produced were conversions of conventional mass produced cars. A serious attempt to produce a car suitable for urban uses was made by the Enfield Company in England in 1966. In Fig. 3, the Enfield 8000 electric car was produced and