Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Introduced more than years ago, electric cars are seeing a rise in popularity today for many of the same reasons they were first popular. Currently more than 3 percent of new vehicle sales, electric vehicles sales could to grow to nearly 7 percent -- or 6.
Travel back in time with us as we explore the history of the electric car. Instead it was a series of breakthroughs -- from the battery to the electric motor -- in the s that led to the first electric vehicle on the road. In the early part of the century, innovators in Hungary, the Netherlands and the United States -- including a blacksmith from Vermont -- began toying with the concept of a battery-powered vehicle and created some of the first small-scale electric cars.
Here in the U. His six-passenger vehicle capable of a top speed of 14 miles per hour was little more than an electrified wagon, but it helped spark interest in electric vehicles. Over the next few years, electric vehicles from different automakers began popping up across the U. New York City even had a fleet of more than 60 electric taxis. By , electric cars were at their heyday, accounting for around a third of all vehicles on the road.
During the next 10 years, they continued to show strong sales. To understand the popularity of electric vehicles circa , it is also important to understand the development of the personal vehicle and the other options available. At the turn of the 20th century, the horse was still the primary mode of transportation. But as Americans became more prosperous, they turned to the newly invented motor vehicle -- available in steam, gasoline or electric versions -- to get around.
Steam was a tried and true energy source, having proved reliable for powering factories and trains. Some of the first self-propelled vehicles in the late s relied on steam; yet it took until the s for the technology to take hold in cars. Steam vehicles required long startup times -- sometimes up to 45 minutes in the cold -- and would need to be refilled with water, limiting their range.
