171 Years Before Tesla: The Evolution of Electric Vehicles
Battery-powered cars have come a long way from the first electric carriages.
In 1900, electric cars accounted for about one-third of all vehicles on U.S. roads -- and then almost disappeared from the landscape as gasoline-engine models took over. Decades later, technological advances and concerns about the environment spurred their gradual revival, which isn’t so gradual anymore: By 2040, more than half of all new cars worldwide will be powered only by batteries, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates. Here’s a look back at the evolution of the once and future hot thing, as companies prepare to display their planned and proposed EVs at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Sources: Company information, U.S. Department of Energy, contemporaneous news reports, NASA, Bloomberg NEF