History of the Electric Vehicle

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History of the Electric Vehicle

The History of Development:

In general the automobile was invented to transport people. Horses were the main mode of transportation and a self powered vehicle seemed to offer many benefits. We have looked at the automobile history and seen how this innovation occurred. The United States in the 19th century had been developing a very successful metal-working industry, which included firearms, sewing machines and machine tools. Not only did this push technology ahead but it also created demand products of a complex technical nature. This technology is what leads to the production of the automobile. The electric car for many years followed the same format that the internal combustion automobile went through. This includes attempts at mass marketing, which occurred after people realized the size of the potential market. The people who innovated were entrepreneurs who were looking to become richer. As the needs of people to be able to move easily in a personal vehicle the market expanded for the automobile.

The first electric car was produced in 1880 and for the next 20 years it competed perfectly with the internal combustion cars. The technology for the battery had been around well before this. In 1800 Volta invented the battery that could provide electricity. It took another 60 years for Gaston Faure to invent the secondary cell, which could be recharged by simply passing a current through it, thus providing portable, renewable electric power. Before this, in 1833 an uneducated Vermonter named Thomas Davenport designed an electric motor after observing a demonstration of an electromagnet. Shortly after, Davenport built an electric locomotive model.

This idea was adopted by many and elec...

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...s against states adopting these mandates. It seemed as if it would take more than mandates to push this technology forward.

From this point car companies have been making promises but nothing has really come about. Hybrid cars seem to possibly be the link between gas-powered and completely battery operated. This type of automobile has been gaining popularity and hopefully convincing the entrenched public that the change might not be so hard to deal with. There has been no reason for firms to produce electric cars since the early 1900s because there was little demand for them. The demand was actually so small that firms did not even research the possibility too much. However, we can look back and understand why the electric car was initially abandoned to hopefully get a picture of what needs to be done in order to give this industry the market share it deserves.

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