The Beginning
•From 1832 to 1839, Scottish inventor Robert Anderson designed and built the first electric carriage. While crude, this machine was the first, official origin of what would become the electric car.
There were other early inventions, such as car batteries created in 1859 and 1881. The former was the first lead-acid battery, and the latter was an improved version of the same battery and is very similar to those still used in automobiles.
American Firsts
•In 1891, William Morrison invented the first electric car in the United States in Iowa. Because automobiles were a newer invention and had not yet become mass produced, the electric car was an idea that had great appeal. That's why various makes and models of electric car debuted in Chicago two years later. In 1897, even taxi cabs in New York City were powered by electricity.
1900
•Historians consider 1900 to be the first heyday of the electric car. There were more than 4,000 automobiles produced that year, and of those, 28 percent were powered by electricity. The cars had grown so popular, that they made up about a third of all cars on the road in New York City, Boston and Chicago.
•By the 1920s, the electric car had lost almost all of its viability as a commercial product. This is attributed to the ready availability of gasoline as a fuel source, the lack of horsepower and long-distance traveling ability, and the fact that mass production was not available for electric cars.
This lack of interest would continue until the 1970s, when growing concern about environmental safety and the rising cost of oil made electric cars look like a good alternative to explore again.Since the Amish are viewed as being good stewards of the land, and with Amish buggies viewed as a cleaner and more earth freindly way to travel.I had to ask the question, if the Amish were to buy and drive a car, would electric vehicles like the up coming electric ford focus be one of them?
