IN PART one of this series of articles I wrote that Europe led in the initial development of the electric vehicle, having produced models in the early part of the 1830’s.
It was also Europe that raced and set land speed records before the turn of the century, but the real impetus behind the electric vehicle (EV) becoming a commercial proposition in the late 19th and early 20th century, must be credited to the US.
Early experimentation by individuals such as Thomas Edison sparked the interest of a number of would be manufacturers who had the foresight to move the experimental into the commercial phase of EV history.
Early efforts by these fledgling manufacturers were, for example, the electric tricycle built by AL Ryker, who went on to produce more carriage like vehicles, and William Morrison whose six seater electric carriage was surely the precursor to public transport, both these vehicles built in 1891.
The first commercial public transportation by EV was in 1897 when the Electric Carriage and Wagon Company of Philadelphia developed and manufactured a fleet of taxi’s which were used in New York.
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