Electric Vehicle - A Primer | Part -2

The Rise, Fall and the Comeback of EV

Welcome to the sequel of the article series about EVs. This article series portrays the history of Electric Vehicles.

EVs are the trending topic today with new models and solutions stepping into the market with its advanced charging infrastructures. But it is a surprising fact that EVs are not a modern marvel but have a long and storied history. The advantages of EVs throws a question, why they had not been used in the past. Actually, they were. They are popular today for the same reasons they were popular once. This article illuminates the rise, the fall, and the comeback of EVs in the automobile industry.

The Rise a.k.a The Golden age

It is hard to pinpoint the invention of the Electric car to one inventor or country. Instead, it was a series of breakthroughs from batteries to electric motors that led to the first electric vehicle on the road in the 1800s. But the prototype for the first practical EV was built by Robert Anderson of Scotland between 1832 and 1839.

The world’s first electric vehicle was a tricycle built by Gustave Trouve in 1880 using the newly developed lead acid rechargeable batteries at that time.

Around the turn of the 20th century, due to the industrial revolution, the west became more prosperous and people started swapping their horses for the newly invented motor vehicles which were available in steam, electric, and gasoline.

It was this time, all three - steam, electric, and gasoline marked it’s entry and battling out each other to prove its dominance in the market.

Steam was so developed at that time and was proven reliable in industries and locomotives. But the starting time required was so long that it almost took 45 minutes to start on cold mornings and required constant feeding of water.

On the other hand, the gasoline-powered cars needed the drivers to change gears and had manual cranking. Also, the noise and smelly exhaust added furthermore negatives.

These cons of steam and gasoline-powered cars gave the electric cars an upper hand which is having the pros of noiseless, zero-emission, easy starting, and easy driving. Particularly, they were even more popular among women because these vehicles were perfect for their short trips around the city.

Many innovators at this time took note of the electric vehicle’s high demand, exploring ways to improve the technology. For example, Ferdinand Porsche, founder of the sports car company by the same name, developed an electric car called the P1 in 1898.

Thomas Alva Edison also believed in the superiority of Electric Vehicles among other alternatives and worked to develop better performance batteries.

The availability of electricity by 1910 contributed to its fame furthermore. They account for one-third of all vehicles on the road in the US.

The Fall a.k.a The Dark Age

After building its fame higher than any other alternatives, EVs started voyaging to its dark age. There are several reasons for the fall of EVs.

§ The first and the main reason for the fall of EVs is the mass productions of Ford’s Model T by making it widely available by 1908.

§ By 1912, the gasoline car cost’s only $650 while an electric roadster was sold for $1750 which is higher than double of its counterpart.

§ In the same year (1912), Charles Kettering introduced the electric starter, eliminating the need for hand crank and giving rise to more gasoline-powered sales.

§ By 1920, the US had better road systems connecting cities and people wanted to go out and explore. But the range anxiety of EVs at that time, made people prefer gasoline cars over EVs.

§ Gas was very cheap and readily available at that time which made the long-distance traveling possible for common people.

§ The development in the EV technology got reduced.

From 1935, for over the next 30 years, there were no signs of EVs on the road.

The comeback a.k.a the Resurrection

Fast forward to 1970, soaring oil and gasoline shortages – peaking with Arab Oil Embargo, created a growing global interest in lowering planet Earth’s dependency on oil. EVs gained renewed interests when the U.S congress endorsed electric driving as a means of reducing air pollution.

Many automakers started exploring options for alternatives, including electric cars. For example, General Motors built a prototype for urban EV.

In 1971, even NASA helped to raise the profile of EV by sending an electric lunar rover – the first manned vehicle to drive on Moon.

Yet, EVs back then, suffered from drawbacks compared to gasoline cars. Their limited speed (45 miles) and limited range (40 miles per charge) stood no chance against its rival.

In the next 20 years, automotive makers modify popular models to electric variations and improving batteries to meet the speed and range closer to the gasoline cars. One of the well known electric cars during this time was GM’s EV1. Instead of modifying an existing vehicle, GM built EV1 from scratch. With 80 miles range and 0-50 miles per hour in 7 seconds, EV1 quickly gained its cult following. But because of higher production costs, EV1 was never commercially viable and GM discontinued it in 2001.

The rEVolution

While all the starts and stops of the electric vehicle industry in the second half of the 20th century helped show the world the promise of the technology, the true revival of the electric cars didn’t happen until around the start of 21st century. There were significantly two events that made EV stood on its spine and sparked the interest we see today.

One of the main turning points was the introduction of Toyota Prius – a hybrid vehicle. Released in Japan in 1997, Toyota Prius with a nickel-metal hydride battery became the world’s first mass-produced hybrid vehicle which was released worldwide in 2000. Since then, rising gasoline prices increased air pollutions, the passing of acts and regulations, helped Prius the best – selling hybrid vehicle - worldwide during the past decade.

The second main event was the announcement in 2006 that a small silicon valley startup, Tesla Motors, would produce a luxury electric sports car that could go more than 200 miles on a single charge. In the short time since then, Tesla has won wide acclaim for its cars.

Tesla’s announcements and subsequent success spurred many big automakers to accelerate work on their electric vehicles. 2010 release, Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt just to name a few.

Over the next few years, other automakers began rolling out their electric vehicles. At the same time, new battery technology entered the market, helping to improve the plug-in electric vehicle’s range and cutting EV battery cost by 50% over the span of four years. This, in turn, reduced the overall price of the EV, making it more affordable. The government, automakers and other private businesses started installing charging infrastructures to increase the range anxiety of EVs

By 2009, Estonia became the world’s first country with an EV fast-charging network with nationwide coverage.

Currently, in the US and Europe, there are about 30 electric and 40 plug-in hybrid models and more to come in the coming years.

By 2025, the Dutch capital may very well become Europe’s first zero-emission city.

The Future

The future is looking bright for e-mobility.

Our dependence on oil is continuously and critically challenged with underlying trends in the oil industry, with the growing adoption of renewable and self-generated energy, as well as with consumers' greater acceptance of electric driving. Set aside all the motivations with climate change and oil dependence - it can be concluded that building electric cars will simply become the better way to do a car.