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The Ascendants Of Electric Vehicles
Move Forward
While many believe that the first independently powered vehicle was built by Karl Benz using an internal combustion engine, a little nugget of history can dispel this myth. There is actually an earlier vehicle built that could have been the standard for transportation then and maybe until now.
Five full years before Karl Benz built his automobile, William Ayrton and John Perry built for themselves a fully electric vehicle. The three wheeled tricycle was able to travel at eight miles per hour and is able to travel a distance of about twenty five miles.
In 1881, the two British professors designed a vehicle that had two large wheels in the rear where the right wheel drove the vehicle. There was a small wheel in front to guide the vehicle. For power, the vehicle used ten of Plante designed lead acid cells in a series that is able to produce half a horsepower of torque. The vehicle's speed was controlled through the switching of lead acid cells in its series. Furthermore, this vehicle was the very first transportation to have electric lighting.
There are many other alternative fuel vehicles even before the advent of the internal combustion engine, some of which are as follows:
In 1840, Oliver Evans was able to build a high pressure steam engine on an amphibious vehicle. The particular design was a dredge and lumbered over land on wheels and used a paddlewheel to go upriver. It is the very first self powered traction engine and amphibious vehicle all rolled into one.
In 1882, Thomas Parker, an engineer by trade and Paul Bedford, a financier, formed the Elwell-Parker Ltd at Wolverhampton, England. The company was able to design and build the very first high capacity rechargeable batteries and with their success, they expanded to building dynamos, motors and controllers for electric motor purposes.
In 1884, a college dropout named Andrew L. Riker experimented with his Coventry bicycle design by attaching a battery and electric motor that he built himself. His invention though was overshadowed by Parker's first three wheeled electric vehicle.
In 1889, a certain M. Slattery from the Fort Wayne Jenny Electric Light Co, was able to build an electric tricycle that had a shunt wound motor. A year later, William Morrison from Des Moines, Iowa built the very first four wheeled electric vehicle in the United States in order to demonstrate the abilities of the lead battery he designed for the commercial market.
In 1893, the World's Colombian Exposition was opened in Chicago and dawned the age of electricity to millions of Americans. The Des Moines four wheeled electric vehicle of William Morrison was showcased during the expo, leading many to build their very own electric car designs that became popular during the late 1890's and early 1900's.
Bobby Castro is the online editor at the Electric Car Forum, where he has published a number of articles about the Electric Car industry
Article submitted Thursday, January 26, 2012 & read 2 times.
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