-
Thomas Davenport
Thomas davenport is credited with creating the first practical electric automobile
(http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/223/electric-car-timeline.html) -
Inventor of the lead-acid storage battery
French physicist Gaston Planté invents the rechargeable lead-acid storage battery.
(http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/223/electric-car-timeline.html) -
The 1st sucessfully built electric car
William Morrison builds the first sucessful electric automobile in the U.S. -
Charles Kettering
Charles Kettering invents the first practical electric automobile starter eliminating the need to use the unweildy hand crank starter and ultimately leads to the electric cars downfall. -
The Electric Cars downfall in 1920
Its downfall occurred because of the desire for longer distance vehicles, their lack of horsepower, and the ready availability of gasoline.
(http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/223/electric-car-timeline.html) -
Period: to
Electric cars became relevant again lol
The OPEC oil embargo of 1937 sky rocketed gasoline prices and sparked interest in alternatives and in 1976 Congress passed the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development, and Demonstration Act, which authorized the Energy Department to support research and development in electric and hybrid
vehicles.
(http://www.businessinsider.com/electric-automobile-history-2015-12/) -
Period: to
Modification
During the 90's automakers began modifying some of their popular vehicle models into electric vehicles. This meant that electric vehicles could match the speed and performance of gas powered cars, and many of them had a range of 60 miles.
(https://energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car) -
The Prius
The first hybrid electric vehicle that was mass-produced was the Prius in 2000 and became an instant sucess. At the time the car costed around $20,000
(https://energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car)
(http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1084579_is-the-2001-2003-toyota-prius-a-good-used-car-buy) -
Another time when the electric car came back to relevancy lol
it was the announcement in 2006 that a small Silicon Valley startup, Tesla Motors, would start producing a luxury electric sports car that could go more than 200 miles on a single charge.
(https://energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car) -
Telsa's success.
Telsa's success spurred many big automakers to accelerate work on their own electric vehicles and in late 2010, the Chevy Volt and the Nissan LEAF were released in the U.S. market.
(https://energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car) -
Period: to
New battery technology
New batter technology began hitting the market helping to improve a plug-in electric vehicle’s range which was made by the Energy Department’s Vehicle Technologies Office. The department invested in battery research and development which cut costs over these 4 years while improving the vehicle batteries performance.
(https://energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car) -
The Problem
Consumers of the Electric car were still faced with a problem of charging the vehicle on the go. The Energy department invested over $115 Million to build a nationwide charging infastructure installing more than 18,000 charging stations for both commercial and public use throughout the country.
