For the next several weeks, we will be busting some myths about electric vehicles here on the Live Electric blog. This week’s myth: EVs are a passing fad.
Electric cars aren’t a passing fad or newfangled idea. In 1900, it’s estimated that a third of the cars on the road in cities like Boston, New York and Chicago were electric! Thomas Edison was developing a rechargeable battery, and he believed that electric vehicles were the transportation of the future. Car manufacturers like Oldsmobile initially only built electric vehicles.
When Henry Ford introduced the gas-powered Model T in 1908, everything shifted– gas cars had more horsepower and could go longer distances, and gasoline was readily available, and EVs, for all intents and purposes, became obsolete. Today, most EVs have the same horsepower as most ICE cars, range is catching up, and while gasoline is readily available, so is electricity– and it’s cheaper than gas. Could we be heading for another paradigm shift in the auto industry? We don’t have to tell you that we think so! Let’s take a look at how EV technology has been in development for over a century.
In 1966, congress became interested in electric vehicles again to combat air pollution. Sounds pretty familiar! Through the next few decades, the EPA and other organizations researched electric vehicle technology, and some cities and companies added or pledged to add EVs to their fleets.
In 1997, the prius was introduced in Japan. It was the first mass-produced car to run partially on electricity, and the first to have mass appeal. In “La La Land” (2016), Emma Stone’s character is looking for her car: she says “it’s a prius,” and they look out over the street– lined with priuses. When a joke like that lands and the product placement seems natural, you know you’ve made an impact.
2008 brought a huge recession, coupled with rising gas prices (up to $4/gallon in July 2008) and bankrupt automakers. The new all-electric car push rose from the ashes of the downturn, and now every major automaker has electric vehicles on the brain. Tesla had already unveiled the Tesla Roadster with a price tag of almost $100,000, which people still think about today when they think of the price of an electric vehicle, and other automakers soon followed with their own EVs.
Some people we talk to believe that electric vehicles are just a fad, but electric vehicles have been on a steady climb. Today, electric vehicles come in all shapes, sizes and prices from the affordable, compact Nissan Leaf to Hyundai’s Kona Electric SUV to Tesla’s electric semi trucks.
Next week, come back to the blog for a discussion about the true price of an electric vehicle– it may be more affordable than you think.