Car Articles

As the environment-damaging impact of gasoline cars skyrocketed, electric cars brought in a new ray of hope with their more environment friendly features and cheaper maintenance costs. So how exactly do the electric cars save us from the damaging effects of gasoline and Diesel cars? Here's the answer. Firstly, the carbon dioxide emissions from electric cars are much lower than conventional fuel powered cars. And yes, electric cars produce no tailpipe emissions since they do not have a tailpipe.

So let's take a walk down the history lane of some of the most ancient and equally exotic electric cars.

Early years - The baby steps

Electricity being one of the oldest methods of automobile propulsion, electric cars became popular in New York during 1897 as commercial taxis, built by the Electric Carriage and Wagon Company of Philadelphia.

In 1917, Woods Motor Company from Chicago released the first-ever gasoline electric hybrid car. However, it failed to attract customers due to high pricing and servicing problems.

The early electric cars enjoyed superiority over their competitors. Electric cars, even in those early years, were low on vibration, noise and smell that were usually a part and parcel of gasoline cars. Electric cars came without the inconvenience of typical gasoline cars (such as gear changing and hand crank to start the engine) and easily secured a huge popularity among the women drivers.

Even though electric cars stood a better chance than the gasoline ones, the growth was hampered by the infrastructure that was not very strong during the early 1900's.

1920's to 1980's - The downfall

Even though electric car made a mark as it entered the automobile industry, it started to lose out on the position it had held on to earlier. Gasoline cars returned with a bang with the discovery of large petroleum resource in the middle-east. Another major reason for the downfall of electric cars and the subsequent rise of the gasoline cars was the invention of electric starter which eliminated the inconvenience of hand crank shafts and noise was silenced with the invention of mufflers.

Another blessing that was brought forth by a gasoline car was the distance it could cover. While an electric vehicle, due to its limited range, could cover only city limits, gasoline cars could afford to travel longer distances.

Electric cars could not emerge from the downfall that came with the rising star of the gasoline cars.

1990's to Present - The revival phase

The energy crises of 1970's and 80's brought with itself an increase in the interest levels of electric cars. These cars were seen as a liberating mode of transport for the people distraught from ever-fluctuating prices of the fuel. The discovery of fuel alternates like that of hydrocarbon energy was another milestone in the revival history of electric cars.