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Lamborghini is making a new e car

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All the new Lamborghini models: choose your new Lamborghini

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This is an article about the history and the future of electric cars

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Is the internal combustion engine running on fumes? According to a 2017 report by ING (pdf), recent developments in charging infrastructure, range and pricing, as well as increasing concern about the environmental damage caused by petrol and diesel cars (as illustrated by the Volkswagen emissions scandal), could see battery electric vehicles (EVs) account for 100% of new passenger car sales in Europe by 2035. That's quite a turnaround given that in 2013 only 50,000 EVs were sold in the EU (pdf) - around 0.4% of all new cars sold.

Is the internal combustion engine running on fumes? According to a 2017 report by ING (pdf), recent developments in charging infrastructure, range and pricing, as well as increasing concern about the environmental damage caused by petrol and diesel cars (as illustrated by the Volkswagen emissions scandal), could see battery electric vehicles (EVs) account for 100% of new passenger car sales in Europe by 2035. That's quite a turnaround given that in 2013 only 50,000 EVs were sold in the EU (pdf) - around 0.4% of all new cars sold.

So how did we get from there to here?

Creating the market

Although EVs were popular in the late 1800s, the lower cost, higher speed and greater range of combustion engine cars - particularly Ford's Model T, introduced in 1908 - effectively killed them off for the best part of a century.

Vehicle type in 1900 in the US.

Surging oil prices in the 2000s recharged interest in hybrid and electric cars, however, leading to increased sales of the Toyota Prius and the introduction of the Tesla Roadster in 2008 - the first all-electric car capable of travelling more than 200 miles on a single charge. Tesla then went on to develop the revolutionary Model S.

"[The Model S] was the first car that was good enough to compete with a combustion engine car, and even beat it on several fronts," says Max Erich, a senior economist at ING and co-author of the company's report on the future of the European EV market. "Tesla, in my opinion, showed that you can make an electric car that is sexy, that is desirable."

Increased competition

Tesla's success pushed other major car manufacturers towards developing their own EVs, such as the Renault ZOE, BMW i3 and Nissan Leaf - the best-selling EV in history with worldwide sales of over 260,000 since 2010.

Gareth Dunsmore, electric vehicle director, Nissan Europe, says that "on the economic front, EVs are now genuinely in reach of most car-buyers". He believes that a decade ago "this simply wasn't the case, and would largely explain why 2016 saw a record in the sales of EVs worldwide with 750,000 sold globally".

All the major car manufactures now have a wide-range of EVs in development, which will offer consumers more choice and further boost sales. Volkswagen, for example, plans to introduce 80 new "electrified vehicles" - which includes 30 hybrids - by 2025. While Volvo recently announced that it would only launch hybrid, plug-in hybrid or 100% electric cars from 2019.

Growth of EVs until 2035.

Charging infrastructure

In 2010, public charging points for EVs were few and far between. Today, there are 112,500 public or semi-public charging points in Europe (pdf).

The UK government's Plugged in Places programme, which was introduced in 2010, provided support to a number of regions in the UK to help them install the current charging infrastructure. Now the focus of both government and private sector companies is to build fast charging networks.

"More rapid chargers need to be rolled-out," says Melanie Shufflebotham, director of Zap-Map, a site which maps UK charging points, "but there's a lot of evidence that that is coming".

That's backed up by ING's report, which predicts that rapid chargers that could enable a 300km charge in 20 minutes are likely to appear from 2018 onwards. Earlier this year, five of the biggest charging network operators in Europe also announced the Open Fast Charging Alliance, which will make it easier for EV drivers to use networks in other countries when travelling across the continent.

Number of EV charging positions in five European countries.

Better batteries

Most EVs use lithium ion battery packs, the costs of which "have come down by a factor of five to 10 over the last seven years", says professor David Greenwood, head of the advanced propulsion systems group at WMG, the University of Warwick. "And battery energy density, which determines vehicle range, has doubled in the last 15 years," he adds.

Although some of Tesla's EVs can now reach ranges of up to 370 miles, most EVs - particularly at the affordable end of the spectrum - are more likely to manage between 100-150 miles before needing a charge, which many consumers consider (rightly or wrongly) to be inadequate for their driving needs.

ING predicts that new battery technology should improve range to meet consumer expectations from 2020 onwards. For instance, companies such as Toyota, Volkswagen and Bosch are working on solid state batteries, which offer increased energy density by a factor of two to three. While Tesla's Gigafactory (a huge battery plant) "will enable it to bring a volume model to the market, and produce batteries at lower prices", says Erich.

Cost of lithium-ion batteries since 2010.

Government support

Over the past decade European governments have offered a range of incentives to encourage drivers to switch to EVs.

For example, in 2011 the UK government introduced its plug-in car grant of £5,000 (€5,600) - which has since been reduced by £500 (€560) - while the electric vehicle home charge scheme allows buyers to get £500 towards the cost of installing a charging point at their home. The £40m (€45) Go Ultra Low City scheme, which is backed by government and the car industry, also aims to encourage electric driving.

"Since the introduction of government's plug-in car grant in 2011, registrations of electric cars have grown dramatically from 1,089, to last year's volume of 36,673 - contributing to the UK's EV total that now exceeds 110,000 cars," says Poppy Welch, head of Go Ultra Low.

The Dutch government has sped the adoption of plug-in EVs through exemptions on registration fees and road taxes, which helped it achieve its target of 15,000 to 20,000 EVs on the roads by 2015 two years early.

Norway, meanwhile, has used a combination of bus-lane access, free parking, toll-free travel and tax exemptions to drive EV sales. It now has the highest per capita number of all-electric cars in the world.

Last year the German government also announced a €1bn incentive scheme designed to boost sales of EVs, and mandatory EU emissions targets for all new cars have created a further incentive for governments to support the switch to EVs.
Content on this page is paid for and produced to a brief agreed by ING, sponsor of the rethinking business hub Topics

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The history and promising future of electric vehicles - in four charts

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Is the internal combustion engine running on fumes? According to a 2017 report by ING (pdf), recent developments in charging infrastructure, range and pricing, as well as increasing concern about the environmental damage caused by petrol and diesel cars (as illustrated by the Volkswagen emissions scandal), could see battery electric vehicles (EVs) account for 100% of new passenger car sales in Europe by 2035.

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This is another cool time line, my favorite part about it is that it goes back to 1828 wich most timelines don't have

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Originally published on Sustainnovate.

Following up on my articles on the history of solar power science, history of solar power policy, history of solar power manufacturing, history of wind turbines, and history of trains, here's a piece on the history of electric cars.

Most people mean "electric car" when they say "electric vehicle." Electric vehicles could also be electric trains, trams, bicycles, skateboards, and so on, but that's not what most people think about when they think about electric vehicles. To keep things simple, I'm mostly just delving into the history of "electric cars" in this article. However, at times, I extend a little beyond that category.

If you're fairly new to electric cars, you might think their history goes back just a few years. However, there have actually been a few eras of electric cars, dating back to the early 1800s. Let's have a stroll through time.

1828: Hungarian inventor Ányos Jedlik, who had invented an early electric motor, builds a small, model car powered by this motor. (Picture above.)

1834: Vermont blacksmith Thomas Davenport and his wife Emily build a small, model electric car that runs on a circular, electrified track. The Davenports use silk from Emily's wedding dress as wiring.

1835: In the Netherlands, Professor Sibrandus Stratingh of Groningen and his assistant, Christopher Becker, build a small electric car powered by primary cells (nonrechargeable batteries). (Image on right.)

1837: Thomas & Emily Davenport, and colleague Orange Smalley, receive the first American patent for an electric machine/motor.

1837 & 1841: Large-scale "electric cars" are finally built by chemist Robert Davidson of Aberdeen. Powered by galvanic cells, the larger one, built in 1841, can pull 6 tons at 4 miles per hour for about 1½ miles. It weighs 7 tons. Sadly, it is soon destroyed by railway workers who see it as a potential threat to their livelihood (even though electric cars were still far from economical, with the cost of using zinc in a battery being about 40 times higher than the cost of burning coal in a firebox).

1859: French physicist Gaston Planté invents the lead-acid battery, which actually makes practical electric cars a possibility. (Lead-acid batteries are still used in some electric cars today, and are used in gas-powered cars to help start the engines. However, most modern electric cars use lithium-ion batteries. The lead-acid batteries used to start cars are still very similar to what Gaston created.)

1881: French scientist Camille Alphonse Faure greatly improves the design of lead-acid batteries, increasing their capacity substantially. This leads to industrial-scale production of lead-acid batteries.

1881: An electric tricycle built by Gaston Planté is displayed at the International Exhibition of Electricity in Paris.

1881: Parisian engineer and carriage builder Charles Jeantaud, with the help of Camille Alphonse Faure, builds an electric car using a Tilbury-style buggy, a Gramme motor, and the Fulmen battery.

1881: Englishmen William Ayrton & John Perry build an electric tricycle, the first vehicle to use electric lights. It uses lead acid cells, has a range of 10 to 25 miles, and has a maximum speed of 9 mph.

1884: English inventor Thomas Parker builds in first practical production electric car in London. He uses "high-capacity" rechargeable batteries that he designed. (Parker also electrified the London Underground, was responsible for overhead tramways in Liverpool and Birmingham, and has other such accomplishments to his name.)

1884: College dropout Andrew Riker, while living in his parents' basement, develops an electric trike using lead-sulfuric acid batteries that has 25 miles of range.

1888: Andrew Riker forms the Riker Electric Vehicle Company, which is based in Elizabeth Port, New Jersey.

1888: Philip Pratt demonstrates an electric tricycle built for him by Fred M. Kimball of Fred M. Kimball Company. Despite Riker's (lesser known) electric trike being built a few years earlier, many say that Pratt's electric trike is the first in the US, and Pratt is often given the title, "father of the American electric automobile."

1888: The first electric car in Germany is built by Andreas Flocken.

1888: Elwell-Parker Company and rivals merge in England to form the Electric Construction Corporation. The Electric Construction Corporation thus gains a monopoly on the production of electric cars in the coming decade.

1890-1891: The first American electric car is built by William Morrison of Des Moines, Iowa. The 6-passenger wagon can travel up to 23 km/h (14 mph). The car may also be the first land vehicle steered with a wheel. Morrison, a chemist, moved to Iowa from Scotland in 1880.

1893: William Morrison's electric car is shown at the "World's Colombian Exposition" in Chicago, seen by basically everyone who would become influential in the early years of electric vehicle development.

1894: Louis Antoine Krieger begins building electric "horseless carriages" in Paris. They use regenerative braking, with the captured energy stored in a battery and later used to help power the motor.

1894: Mechanical engineer Henry G. Morris and chemist Pedro G. Salom build the first "successful" electric car. With backgrounds in the dwindling battery streetcar market, Morris and Salom develop the "Electrobat" like a small battery streetcar. It has a top speed of 15 mph and uses a lead acid battery. It goes into production the following year, 1895.

1895: The first known US auto race is won by an electric vehicle.

1896: The first car dealer is set up in the US. It only sells electric vehicles.

1896: Morris and Salom build a 2-seat "Electric Road Wagon" and form the "Electric Carriage and Wagon Company," apparently the first electric car company in the US. Developed as coupes and hansoms for New York City taxis, the Electric Road Wagons each have rear-wheel steering, two 1/2 hp motors, 44 lead-acid cells, and a range of 30 miles.

1896: To overcome range limitations and lack of charging infrastructure, a battery exchange (aka battery swap) service is proposed. Implemented by Hartford Electric Light Company, the service is initially available for electric trucks.

1897: A fleet of electric vehicle taxis is brought to London by Walter C. Bersey. They receive the nickname "Hummingbirds" because of the light humming sound they make.

1897: A fleet of electric hansom cabs is brought to New York City by Samuel's Electric Carriage and Wagon Company.

1897: The first car with power steering is built. It's an electric car.

1898: Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, 23 years old, builds his first car, the Lohner Electric Chaise. It has a hub motor at each driving wheel and is reportedly the first front-wheel-drive car in the world.

1898: Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat of Paris sets the first known speed record in a car, going faster than any human before at 39.245 mph (62.8 km/h) in his electric Jeantaud. This earns him the nickname "Electric Count." Incidentally, the world record lasts for just a few days before being beaten by another electric vehicle. (Picture below.)

1899: Camille Jenatzy and Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat trade speed records several times throughout the year, ending in Camille Jenatzy breaking the 100 km/h (62 mph) speed barrier in an electric vehicle. He reaches a top speed of 105.88 km/h (65.79 mph). Jenatzy's vehicle is named La Jamais Contente ("The Never Satisfied"), picture on right.

1899: Riker Electric Vehicle Company, Electric Carriage and Wagon Company, Electric Storage Battery, and Samuel's Electric Carriage and Wagon Company merge to form the "Electric Vehicle Company," attempting to create a monopoly in the US electric vehicle market.

1899: MIT electrical & mechanical engineering graduate Clinton Edgar Woods incorporates Woods Motor Vehicle Company, 3 years after forming American Electric Vehicle Company, which then became Waverly Company.

1899: The Baker Electric, the first production electric car, is born. It is produced by Baker Motor Vehicle Company.

1900: 38% of US automobiles, 33,842 cars, are powered by electricity (40% by steam, and 22% by gasoline).

1901: Thomas Edison patents the nickel-iron battery.

1902: Dr. Ferdinand Porsche builds second car, a hybrid with an electric range of 40 miles.

1902: Walter Baker goes 104 mph (167 km/h) in his electric "Road Torpedo," setting a new world speed record in Ormond Beach, Florida. It is also the first vehicle to utilize a safety belt. Later, he reportedly reaches 127 mph (204 km/h) but without officially being recorded. He later builds an even more powerful vehicle, but he crashes into the crowd at Staten Island Speedway, killing two spectators, and never races again. His 104 mph record stands for 64 years.

1907: Detroit Electric, an electric car produced by the Anderson Electric Car Company, is born. 13,000 Detroit Electrics are produced between 1907 and 1939.

1908: Thomas Edison improves the design of his nickel-iron battery.

1908: Henry Ford starts producing the Model T, but he also buys his wife, Clara, a Detroit Electric Model C coupe (since she preferred electric cars). The Detroit Electric Model C coupe comes with a special baby seat. (The Ford family eventually buys a second Detroit Electric, a Model D, officially sold to Edsel Ford; and then a third one, a Model 47, for Clara.)

1911: The first gasoline-electric hybrid car is released by Woods Motor Vehicle Company, which is based out of Chicago.

1912: 38,843 electric vehicles are on the roads in the United States.

1912: The electric starter is invented by Charles Kettering. Ironically, this harms the electric car market, as gasoline-powered cars can now be easily and quickly started (without having to use a hand crank).

1913: Mass production of the Ford Model T on the first modern assembly line deals a strong blow to early-era electric cars, as it brings down the cost of gasoline cars considerably (making electric cars two or even three times more expensive in the coming years). Electric car sales would slowly taper off over the coming years. (Other main factors leading to the demise of electric cars were: cheap Texas oil; a more developed road network and the ability/desire to travel long distances - electric cars typically had driving ranges of 30 to 40 miles (50 to 65 kilometers) and limited charging infrastructure; the electric starter - see above; slower speeds - about 20 mph or 32 km/h; tough economic times during World War I; and the stigma that electric cars are for women.)

1914: Baker Motor Vehicle Company merges with Cleveland automaker Rauch and Lang to become Baker, Rauch & Lang.

1923: Milburn, one of few remaining electric vehicle companies, sells out to main body client General Motors.

1929: W. C. Anderson, 75 years old and in poor health, sells his Detroit Electric company. The last entirely new Detroit Electric was likely sold in 1926 anyway.

1957: Sputnik is launched and the US space program engages in advanced battery research & development.

1959-1961: The Henney Kilowatt, a small electric car, is produced by Henney Coachworks and the National Union Electric Company. It achieves a top speed of 60 mph (97 km/h) and a range of 60 miles (97 kilometers), but its high price keeps away potential buyers.

1967: The Electric Auto Association is founded by Walter Laski.

1967-1969: American Motors Corporation (AMC) & Gulton Industries team up to produce a few electric cars using a lithium-based battery and a nickel-cadmium battery, such as the Amitron (1967, lithium batteries) and and all-electric Rambler American (1969, nickel-cadmium batteries). The Amitron introduces regenerative braking.

1971: The first manned vehicle to drive on the moon, the Lunar Rover, is an electric car.

1972: The Electric Auto Association holds its first annual electric vehicle rally.

1973-1977: The Enfield 8000 (pictured above) is built by Enfield Automotive in the UK. Using lead-acid batteries, the car has a top speed of 48 mph (77 km/h) and a top range of about 40 miles (64 kilometers).

1976: The US Congress passes the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development, and Demonstration Act, which increases research and development of electric motors, batteries, and other components of electric and hybrid vehicles.

1977: AMC & Gulton Industries again team up to produce the AMC Electron, a 3-passenger, electric, commuter, city car. (Pictured above.)

1983: A fleet of electric vehicles drive from San Jose to San Francisco and back (100 miles / 161 kilometers) without recharging.

1985: Saied Motai drives an electric vehicle 230 miles (370 kilometers) on a single charge.

1990: General Motors (GM) introduces the GM Impact, an electric concept car, at the Los Angeles Auto Show. GM President Roger Smith also announces that GM will produce electric cars for the consumer market (which finally happens in 1997, but the car is only available to lease).

1990: The California Air Resources Board (CARB), the government of California's "clean air agency," pushes for automakers to produce more-fuel-efficient, low-emissions vehicles and eventually transition to zero emissions vehicles (e.g., electric vehicles). The main law is the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate, which requires 2% of California's vehicles to have 0 tailpipe emissions by 1998, and 10% by 2003. As a result, automakers develop several electric vehicle models in the coming years. However, the automakers don't really get behind the idea, don't market their electric vehicles well (if at all), and eventually sue CARB, resulting in a dropping of the ZEV Mandate.

1991: The Kewet, a 100% electric microcar produced in Norway, is introduced. (Pictured above.)

1992: The Škoda Favorit ELTRA 151L & 151 Pick-Up is released, selling for under $20,000 without subsidy. It has a top speed of 50 mph (80 km/h) and a top range of 50 miles (80 kilometers).

1992: California passes a $1,000 tax credit for electric vehicles.

1994: 12 other US states adopt California's ZEV Mandate.

1994: The GM Impact EV (later named the EV1) drives 187 mph (301 km/h), breaking the electric vehicle speed record. GM also began PrEView, a program whereby 50 handbuilt Impact electric cars would be lent to drivers for periods of 1-2 weeks. This program existed for about 2 years.

1994: The REVA Electric Car Company is formed in India, a joint venture between the Maini Group India and AEV of California.

1996: The first 660 EV1s produced are built with GM lead-acid batteries with an advertised range of 70-100 miles (but closer to 60). (Later, they were upgraded to Panasonic lead-acid batteries and had a realistic driving range of 90 miles. Starting in 1999, 457 Gen2 EV1s had NiMh batteries, with a top range of 160 miles.) The EV1 is produced until 2003, but is only available for lease. And GM reclaims and destroys the electric cars, not allowing owners in love with the vehicle to buy them off of GM. EV1s that were donated to engineering schools and museums are not reclaimed but are deactivated, except for the one donated to the Smithsonian. (Honda, Nissan, and Toyota similarly offered their vehicles under closed-ended leases and repossessed/crushed them at the end of the lease periods.)

1997: GM releases the Chevrolet S10 EV, an electric pickup truck. It has a top speed of 73 mph (118 km/h) and a top range of 90 miles (144 kilometers). It is produced until 1998.

1997: Honda releases the EV Plus, which has a top speed of over 80 mph (130 km/h) and a top range of 80 to 110 miles (130 to 180 kilometers). It is produced until 1999.

1997: Toyota releases the RAV4 EV, which has a top speed of 78 mph (125 km/h) and a top range of 87 miles (140 kilometers). It is produced until 2002.

1998: Ford releases the Ranger EV, which has a range of 74 miles (119 kilometers). It is produced until 2002.

1999: The Honda Insight and Toyota Prius, hybrid electric cars, go on sale. These are the first hybrid vehicles on the market since the 1917 Woods hybrid. The Insight comes to the US, while the Prius comes to Japan. (The Prius was introduced in the US 2 years later, in 2001.)

2001: REVA Electric Car Company releases the REVAi (aka "G-Wiz" in the UK), an electric microcar powered by lead-acid batteries (pictured above).

2002: GM and DaimlerChrysler finally sue CARB over the ZEV Mandate, and are joined in the suit by the Bush Administration. They win the lawsuit and the California ZEV Mandate is changed to allow ZEV credits instead of ZEVs.

2003: Tesla Motors is founded in California.

2004: Tesla Motors begins work on the Tesla Roadster, a 100% electric sports car based on the design of the popular and stylish Lotus Elise.

2004: The last of the EV1s are taken back from leaseholders and destroyed or donated. All EV1s donated to museums and schools are deactivated, except one. Serial number 660, donated to the Smithsonian, is not disabled.

2005: Who Killed The Electric Car? is released in cinemas.

2005: Plug In America is launched in the US.

2006: Tesla Motors unveils the Tesla Roadster (pictured above) at the San Francisco International Auto Show. The car changes the image of electric cars for many, and also spurs some major automakers to genuinely jump into the electric car market.

2007: The Kewet gets rebranded as " Buddy."

2008: The Th!nk City electric city car (pictured above) goes into production in Norway.

2008: The Tesla Roadster becomes the first production electric vehicle to use lithium-ion battery cells as well as the first production electric vehicle to have a range of over 200 miles on a single charge.

2008: While campaigning for the presidency, Barack Obama states that he would push for 1 million plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles on US roadways by 2015 if elected president.

2009: BYD releases the world's first plug-in hybrid compact sedan, the F3DM (pictured above). It uses lithium-iron-phosphate batteries, which have less energy density but are more stable than lithium-ion batteries used in the Tesla Roadster.

2009: REVA Electric Car Company releases the REVA L-ion, an updated version of its electric microcar this time powered by lithium-ion batteries.

2009: $2 billion goes toward the development of electric vehicle batteries and related technologies under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and another $400 million goes toward the development of plug-in vehicle charging infrastructure.

2009: The UK announces a £2,000 subsidy for consumer electric cars.

2009: The US Department of Energy awards $8 billion in fuel-efficient vehicle loans to Ford, Tesla Motors, and Nissan, part of $25 billion dedicated for such a purpose under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

2009: Tesla unveils the Model S electric sedan (pictured above), which quickly gets top ratings from leading auto journalists and consumer technology review company Consumer Reports. By many, it is considered the best mass-production car of any type in the world.

2009: The Mitsubishi i-MiEV (pictured above) goes on sale in Japan. It hits the European, Chinese, and Australian markets in 2010; and then the US and other markets in 2011.

2010: Mass production of the 100% electric Nissan Leaf (pictured above) begins in Japan, and the car is sold in Japan and the US. It has a max speed of over 90 mph (145 km/h), has a top range of 100 miles (161 kilometers), and can be recharged to 80% of battery capacity in 30 minutes.

2010: Production of the BYD e6 (pictured above) begins in China, initially just for fleet customers.

2010: Mass production of the Chevy Volt (pictured above), an extended-range electric vehicle (also referred to as a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle), begins in the US. The instigation of this car and possibly all other modern plug-in cars was the Tesla Roadster. Bob Lutz, who was vice chairman of GM at the time, said in 2009: "All the geniuses here at General Motors kept saying lithium-ion technology is 10 years away, and Toyota agreed with us - and boom, along comes Tesla. So I said, 'How come some tiny little California startup, run by guys who know nothing about the car business, can do this, and we can't?' That was the crowbar that helped break up the log jam."

2010: Tesla Motors goes public with an IPO on NASDAQ.

2010: ~25,000 electric cars are on the roads globally (fewer than were on US roads in 1912, but many more than just a few years prior).

2011: The Bolloré Bluecar is released in France, initially just used in Paris' Autolib' carsharing program.

2011: The Mitsubishi i-MiEV becomes the first electric car to see more than 10,000 sales (including under various other badges - Citroën C-Zero and Peugeot iOn).

2011: ~80,000 electric cars are on the roads globally, more than three times the number from the year before.

2012: Tesla unveils the Model X, an electric SUV/crossover with similar performance to the Model S.

2012: Tesla begins building a North American Supercharger network, which Tesla owners can use for free.

2012: ~200,000 electric cars are on the roads globally, 2.5 times more than the year before.

2013: The Nissan Leaf becomes the first electric car to see over 50,000 sales.

2013: The Nissan Leaf gets a $6,000 price cut in the US thanks to the start of production in the US (Tennessee).

2013: For certain months, the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla Model S each become the top-selling car of any type in Norway.

2013: The Renault-Nissan Alliance passes 100,000 plug-in electric vehicle sales globally, the first company to do so.

2013: ~405,000 electric cars are on the roads globally, more than twice the number from the year before.

2014: Numerous 100% electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are now on the market, such as: BMW i3, BMW i8, Bolloré Bluecar, BYD e6, BYD Qin, Cadillac ELR, Chevy Spark EV, Chevy Volt, Citröen Berlingo Électrique, Citröen C-Zero, Fiat 500e, Ford C-Max Energi, Ford Fusion Energi, Ford Focus Electric, Honda Accord Plug-in, Honda Fit EV, Kia Soul EV, Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric, Mia Electric, Mitsubishi i-MiEV, Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in, Nissan e-NV200, Nissan Leaf, Opel Ampera, Peugeot iOn, Peugeot Partner EV, Porsche Panamera S-E Hybrid, Renault Kangoo ZE, Renault Twizy, Renault Zoe, Smart Electric Drive, Tesla Model S, Tesla Model X, Toyota Prius Plug-in, Toyota RAV4 EV, Via Motors VTRUX SUV/Truck/Van, Volvo C30 Electric, Volvo V60 Plug-in, Volkswagen e-Golf, Volkswagen e-Up!, Volkswagen XL1, Wheego LiFE, Wheego Whip.

2014: Tesla announces plans to build a battery "gigafactory" in order to ensure it has enough batteries for its current and upcoming vehicles.

2014: Tesla opens up its patents to anyone wanting to use them "in good faith."

2014: Tesla announces that its 3rd-generation, much more affordable vehicle will be called Tesla Model III. It is supposed to have a range of about 200 miles (320 kilometers), be about 20% smaller than the Model S, have a base price of about $30,000, and go into production in 2017.

2014: Tesla starts working on production of the Model X.

2014: The Nissan Leaf becomes the first electric car to see over 100,000 sales.

Image Credits: First 7 images: original source unknown; LIFE magazine ad photographed by Bob Post; Georgios Michael; AMC; GM; MilborneOne (CC BY-SA 3.0); Tesla Motors; Mahlum; BYD; Tesla Motors; Mitsubishi; Zachary Shahan / EV Obsession / CleanTechnica (CC BY-SA 4.0); BYD; GM; Bolloré; Tesla Motors

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About the Author

Zachary Shahan Zach is tryin' to help society help itself (and other species) with the power of the word. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director and chief editor, but he's also the president of Important Media and the director/founder of EV Obsession and . Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, and Canada. Zach has long-term investments in TSLA, FSLR, SPWR, SEDG, & ABB - after years of covering solar and EVs, he simply has a lot of faith in these particular companies and feels like they are good cleantech companies to invest in. But he offers no professional investment advice and would rather not be responsible for you losing money, so don't jump to conclusions.

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Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest April 26th, 2015 by Zachary Shahan Originally published on Sustainnovate. Following up on my articles on the history of solar power science, history of solar power policy, history of solar power manufacturing, history of wind turbines, and history of trains, here's a piece on the history of electric cars.

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What is the biggest ECar a lot of people think it is Tesla but it actually is not go check out the forbes article about who is the biggest ECar company

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Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Like Tesla's enormous market capitalization, the outsized mind share of the California carmaker is hard to reconcile with its true market share. A look at the sales data shows that noisy Tesla is quietly being outsold by the true pioneer in the electric vehicle field, the Renault-Nissan Alliance. The Alliance may get no respect from a media that hangs on to every Musk tweet, but it sure gets the customers.

In the first quarter of 2017, the Renault-Nissan Alliance moved nearly 37,000 electric vehicles, per data supplied by the automakers. That is some 12,000 units, or nearly 50%, more than the 25,000 electric vehicles Tesla said were shipped by the company in the first quarter.

An even bigger surprise: Nissan's aging Leaf outsold Tesla's likewise long-in-the-tooth Model S. The Leaf remained the world's best-selling electric vehicle in the first quarter. It is hardly a secret that the Leaf is to be replaced soon by a completely new model with more range, a pleasing design, and with the semi-autonomous ProPilot package Nissan introduced with its Serena minivan last year. Considering the model change, one would expect Leaf sales to go down, but just the opposite is true. Last March, the outgoing Leaf even outsold Tesla's Model X in Norway, the Shangri-La of electric cars, noted car counter Jose Pontes wrote.
Also on Forbes:
Pontes also notes that the top-selling cars in the world's second-largest (after China) electric car market Europe are all from the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Both in March, and in the first quarter of 2017, the best-selling EV in Europe was Renault's new Zoe, followed by the Leaf, and then by Mitsubishi's Outlander PHEV.

The Outlander is a plug-in hybrid, and battery purists may take issue with the widespread practice of counting PHEVs as electric vehicles. Deduct the Outlander, and the Alliance still trounces Tesla. Together, Nissan's Leaf and Renault's Zoe edged out sales of Tesla's Model S and Model X. What puts the Alliance far ahead of Tesla, even in pure battery terms, is its rich and very underreported portfolio of hard-working electrified workhorses. Some 50,000 electric vans -- Nissan's ENV 200, Renault's Kangoo ZE, and Mitsubishi's Minicab-MiEV -- deliver the goods in cities around the world, reducing emissions where it's really needed. Often overlooked in EV-statistics, those "other" EVs contributed nearly 5,000 units to the Alliance's winning tally in the first three months of the year.

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Who Is The World's Leading EV Maker? It's Not Tesla

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Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Like Tesla's enormous market capitalization, the outsized mind share of the California carmaker is hard to reconcile with its true market share. A look at the sales data shows that noisy Tesla is quietly being outsold by the true pioneer in the electric vehicle field, the Renault-Nissan Alliance.

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This is the Tesla website Tesla is one if the biggest electric car company

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This is a cool CNN page about future of ECars I don’t know why but the Honda car looks like an old car I wonder if new cars will start doing that

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A number of countries around the world are looking to move away from fuel-burning automobiles. India, France, Britain and Norway all want to abandon gas and diesel cars in favor of cleaner vehicles. Even in Germany, the country that literally invented the internal combustion car, there is talk among politicians about eventually doing away with them.

None of this means the rumble of piston-power will be gone overnight. Or even over the next decade. The transition to electric cars will take many years and will involve a slow transition.

As automakers look toward a future without fuel-burning cars, plug-in vehicles were a big part of this year's Frankfurt Motor Show.

Mercedes-AMG Project One

The Mercedes-AMG Project One, is a plug-in hybrid that wrings every ounce of power out of a tiny 1.6 liter 6-cylinder engine. While Mercedes boasts of its impressive efficiency, none of the 275 people who have already signed up to buy this $2.7 million car are probably terribly bothered by fuel costs. With a total output of over 1,000 horsepower, thanks to three electric motors driving the wheels and one driving a turbocharger, this car is looking to compete in the supercar ranks of Ferrari, Lamborghini and McLaren.

Mercedes Concept EQa

For those with the net worth not counted in billions, Mercedes also unveiled the Concept EQa, a compact electric car. If you look closely, you can tell this is just a concept car. Those bumpers don't look like they'd take much bumping, the wheels fit a little too snugly inside the wheel wells and it doesn't have enough doors to be practical. If you squint, though, you can see a compact hatchback car that could join the planned EQ electric car line-up Mercedes announced at last year's Paris Motor Show.

Honda's electric car also looks like a cute concept vehicle but Honda promises that something like it will go on sale in Europe in the next couple of years. The Honda EV concept is about four inches shorter than a Honda Fit and it looks a bit a like 1970s Civic. A screen between the headlights can display messages for those outside.

A Smart electric concept, unveiled by Mercedes' mini-car subsidiary, does the same sort of thing. It's a possible answer to the question of how autonomous cars of the future will interact with pedestrians. (If the driver isn't paying attention, they won't be able to wave at people to tell them to go ahead and cross, for instance.) Smart's Vision EQ concept is a fully autonomous vehicle that could be used for a car-sharing network, relying on "swarm intelligence" to predict where it will be needed next.

Volkswagen

Volkswagen is also filling out its planned electric car sub-brand, ID. The first ID car was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show almost a year ago. Later, in Detroit, Volkswagen unveiled the ID Buzz, an electric minibus that, it was announced recently, will go on sale in a few years.

The Volkswagen ID Crozz was first unveiled at the Shanghai Motor Show in April but was it was shown at Frankfurt slightly changed. It's an electric compact crossover SUV. Crossovers are something that any car brand needs to succeed these days.

BMW already has an electrified car sub-brand called BMW i. It currently has the blocky BMW i3 and the supercar-shaped i8. Again, BMW i Vision Dynamics is just a concept but it's something that would clearly make sense in BMWs electric car line-up. It's a real, practical car-shaped car with 373 miles of range, according to BMW, and a zero-to-60 time under four seconds. In other words, it would be the perfect BMW to directly take on Tesla.

Mercedes GLC F-cell

Pure battery power isn't the only thing that can drive a no-combustion car, of course. Another option was on display, and actually very close to production, in the Mercedes-Benz GLC F-cell, a hydrogen powered plug-in hybrid. It uses hydrogen fuel cells that combine hydrogen gas with oxygen from the air to generate electricity. It can go about 430 miles on hydrogen power, emitting only water vapor as exhaust, plus another 30 miles on plug-in electricity. It's expected to be on sale in the United States by the end of 2019.

CNNMoney (New York) First published September 14, 2017: 12:48 AM ET

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None of this means the rumble of piston-power will be gone overnight. Or even over the next decade. The transition to electric cars will take many years and will involve a slow transition. As automakers look toward a future without fuel-burning cars, plug-in vehicles were a big part of this year's Frankfurt Motor Show.

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This is the history of ECars on Wikipedia although that I would not recommend using this because people can edit it

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History of the electric vehicle - Wikipedia

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The invention of the first model electric vehicle is attributed to various people. In 1828, Ányos Jedlik, a Hungarian who invented an early type of electric motor, created a small model car powered by his new motor. In 1834, Vermont blacksmith Thomas Davenport built a similar contraption which operated on a short, circular, electrified track.

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This is a cool video that shows how the Tesla Model S.
If you don't know Tesla it is a car company that makes electric cars you can check out there website in the other post

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How does an Electric Car work ? | Tesla Model S

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A scottish inventor called Robert Anderson this is how he looks like this in 1832 made the first e vehicle it was a carriage powered non-rechargeable primary cells, their those batteries that say “Caution: do not recharge, dispose of in fire or improper insert” yeah those just I am guessing much bigger. They are normally used for flashlights, smoke detectors and other things like that.

Later in 1835 an American inventor and blacksmith called Thomas Davenport got credited with building the first practical e vehicle: a small RC train

After that in 1859 a French Physicist called Gaston Planté he lived from 1834-1889 anyways he made the first rechargeable lead-acid storage battery he presented it at the Academy of Sciences and surprisingly it gave out a lot of power. In 1881 a French chemical engineer called Camille Alphonse Faure improved the lead-acid battery
Sorce: http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/223/electric-car-timeline.html

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This is a cool interactive timeline of ECars

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Introduced more than 100 years ago, electric cars are seeing a rise in popularity today for many of the same reasons they were first popular.

Whether it's a hybrid, plug-in hybrid or all-electric, the demand for electric drive vehicles will continue to climb as prices drop and consumers look for ways to save money at the pump. Currently more than 3 percent of new vehicle sales, electric vehicles sales could to grow to nearly 7 percent -- or 6.6 million per year -- worldwide by 2020, according to a report by Navigant Research.

With this growing interest in electric vehicles, we are taking a look at where this technology has been and where it's going. Travel back in time with us as we explore the history of the electric car.

The birth of the electric vehicle

It's hard to pinpoint the invention of the electric car to one inventor or country. Instead it was a series of breakthroughs -- from the battery to the electric motor -- in the 1800s 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. And while Robert Anderson, a British inventor, developed the first crude electric carriage around this same time, it wasn't until the second half of the 19th century that French and English inventors built some of the first practical electric cars.

Here in the U.S., the first successful electric car made its debut around 1890 thanks to William Morrison, a chemist who lived in Des Moines, Iowa. 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.S. New York City even had a fleet of more than 60 electric taxis. By 1900, 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.

The early rise and fall of the electric car

To understand the popularity of electric vehicles circa 1900, 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 1700s relied on steam; yet it took until the 1870s for the technology to take hold in cars. Part of this is because steam wasn't very practical for personal vehicles. 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.

As electric vehicles came onto the market, so did a new type of vehicle -- the gasoline-powered car -- thanks to improvements to the internal combustion engine in the 1800s. While gasoline cars had promise, they weren't without their faults. They required a lot of manual effort to drive -- changing gears was no easy task and they needed to be started with a hand crank, making them difficult for some to operate. They were also noisy, and their exhaust was unpleasant.

Electric cars didn't have any of the issues associated with steam or gasoline. They were quiet, easy to drive and didn't emit a smelly pollutant like the other cars of the time. Electric cars quickly became popular with urban residents -- especially women. They were perfect for short trips around the city, and poor road conditions outside cities meant few cars of any type could venture farther. As more people gained access to electricity in the 1910s, it became easier to charge electric cars, adding to their popularity with all walks of life (including some of the "best known and prominent makers of gasoline cars" as a 1911 New York Times article pointed out).

Many innovators at the time took note of the electric vehicle's high demand, exploring ways to improve the technology. For example, Ferdinand Porsche, founder of the sports car company by the same name, developed an electric car called the P1 in 1898. Around the same time, he created the world's first hybrid electric car -- a vehicle that is powered by electricity and a gas engine. Thomas Edison, one of the world's most prolific inventors, thought electric vehicles were the superior technology and worked to build a better electric vehicle battery. Even Henry Ford, who was friends with Edison, partnered with Edison to explore options for a low-cost electric car in 1914, according to Wired.

Yet, it was Henry Ford's mass-produced Model T that dealt a blow to the electric car. Introduced in 1908, the Model T made gasoline-powered cars widely available and affordable. By 1912, the gasoline car cost only $650, while an electric roadster sold for $1,750. That same year, Charles Kettering introduced the electric starter, eliminating the need for the hand crank and giving rise to more gasoline-powered vehicle sales.

Other developments also contributed to the decline of the electric vehicle. By the 1920s, the U.S. had a better system of roads connecting cities, and Americans wanted to get out and explore. With the discovery of Texas crude oil, gas became cheap and readily available for rural Americans, and filling stations began popping up across the country. In comparison, very few Americans outside of cities had electricity at that time. In the end, electric vehicles all but disappeared by 1935.

Gas shortages spark interest in electric vehicles

Over the next 30 years or so, electric vehicles entered a sort of dark ages with little advancement in the technology. Cheap, abundant gasoline and continued improvement in the internal combustion engine hampered demand for alternative fuel vehicles.

Fast forward to the late 1960s and early 1970s. Soaring oil prices and gasoline shortages -- peaking with the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo -- created a growing interest in lowering the U.S.'s dependence on foreign oil and finding homegrown sources of fuel. Congress took note and passed the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1976, authorizing the Energy Department to support research and development in electric and hybrid vehicles.

Around this same time, many big and small automakers began exploring options for alternative fuel vehicles, including electric cars. For example, General Motors developed a prototype for an urban electric car that it displayed at the Environmental Protection Agency's First Symposium on Low Pollution Power Systems Development in 1973, and the American Motor Company produced electric delivery jeeps that the United States Postal Service used in a 1975 test program. Even NASA helped raise the profile of the electric vehicle when its electric Lunar rover became the first manned vehicle to drive on the moon in 1971.

Yet, the vehicles developed and produced in the 1970s still suffered from drawbacks compared to gasoline-powered cars. Electric vehicles during this time had limited performance -- usually topping at speeds of 45 miles per hour -- and their typical range was limited to 40 miles before needing to be recharged.

Environmental concern drives electric vehicles forward

Fast forward again -- this time to the 1990s. In the 20 years since the long gas lines of the 1970s, interest in electric vehicles had mostly died down. But new federal and state regulations begin to change things. The passage of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment and the 1992 Energy Policy Act -- plus new transportation emissions regulations issued by the California Air Resources Board -- helped create a renewed interest in electric vehicles in the U.S.

During this time, automakers began modifying some of their popular vehicle models into electric vehicles. This meant that electric vehicles now achieved speeds and performance much closer to gasoline-powered vehicles, and many of them had a range of 60 miles.

One of the most well-known electric cars during this time was GM's EV1, a car that was heavily featured in the 2006 documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? Instead of modifying an existing vehicle, GM designed and developed the EV1 from the ground up. With a range of 80 miles and the ability to accelerate from 0 to 50 miles per hour in just seven seconds, the EV1 quickly gained a cult following. But because of high production costs, the EV1 was never commercially viable, and GM discontinued it in 2001.

With a booming economy, a growing middle class and low gas prices in the late 1990s, many consumers didn't worry about fuel-efficient vehicles. Even though there wasn't much public attention to electric vehicles at this time, behind the scenes, scientists and engineers -- supported by the Energy Department -- were working to improve electric vehicle technology, including batteries.

A new beginning for electric cars

While all the starts and stops of the electric vehicle industry in the second half of the 20th century helped show the world the promise of the technology, the true revival of the electric vehicle didn't happen until around the start of the 21st century. Depending on whom you ask, it was one of two events that sparked the interest we see today in electric vehicles.

The first turning point many have suggested was the introduction of the Toyota Prius. Released in Japan in 1997, the Prius became the world's first mass-produced hybrid electric vehicle. In 2000, the Prius was released worldwide, and it became an instant success with celebrities, helping to raise the profile of the car. To make the Prius a reality, Toyota used a nickel metal hydride battery -- a technology that was supported by the Energy Department's research. Since then, rising gasoline prices and growing concern about carbon pollution have helped make the Prius the best-selling hybrid worldwide during the past decade.

(Historical footnote: Before the Prius could be introduced in the U.S., Honda released the Insight hybrid in 1999, making it the first hybrid sold in the U.S. since the early 1900s.)

The other event that helped reshape electric vehicles was the announcement in 2006 that a small Silicon Valley startup, Tesla Motors, would start producing a luxury electric sports car that could go more than 200 miles on a single charge. In 2010, Tesla received at $465 million loan from the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office -- a loan that Tesla repaid a full nine years early -- to establish a manufacturing facility in California. In the short time since then, Tesla has won wide acclaim for its cars and has become the largest auto industry employer in California.

Tesla's announcement and subsequent success spurred many big automakers to accelerate work on their own electric vehicles. In late 2010, the Chevy Volt and the Nissan LEAF were released in the U.S. market. The first commercially available plug-in hybrid, the Volt has a gasoline engine that supplements its electric drive once the battery is depleted, allowing consumers to drive on electric for most trips and gasoline to extend the vehicle's range. In comparison, the LEAF is an all-electric vehicle (often called a battery-electric vehicle, an electric vehicle or just an EV for short), meaning it is only powered by an electric motor.

Over the next few years, other automakers began rolling out electric vehicles in the U.S.; yet, consumers were still faced with one of the early problems of the electric vehicle -- where to charge their vehicles on the go. Through the Recovery Act, the Energy Department invested more than $115 million to help build a nation-wide charging infrastructure, installing more than 18,000 residential, commercial and public chargers across the country. Automakers and other private businesses also installed their own chargers at key locations in the U.S., bringing today's total of public electric vehicle chargers to more than 8,000 different locations with more than 20,000 charging outlets.

At the same time, new battery technology -- supported by the Energy Department's Vehicle Technologies Office -- began hitting the market, helping to improve a plug-in electric vehicle's range. In addition to the battery technology in nearly all of the first generation hybrids, the Department's research also helped develop the lithium-ion battery technology used in the Volt. More recently, the Department's investment in battery research and development has helped cut electric vehicle battery costs by 50 percent in the last four years, while simultaneously improving the vehicle batteries' performance (meaning their power, energy and durability). This in turn has helped lower the costs of electric vehicles, making them more affordable for consumers.

Consumers now have more choices than ever when it comes to buying an electric vehicle. Today, there are 23 plug-in electric and 36 hybrid models available in a variety of sizes -- from the two-passenger Smart ED to the midsized Ford C-Max Energi to the BMW i3 luxury SUV. As gasoline prices continue to rise and the prices on electric vehicles continue to drop, electric vehicles are gaining in popularity -- with more than 234,000 plug-in electric vehicles and 3.3 million hybrids on the road in the U.S. today.

The future of electric cars

It's hard to tell where the future will take electric vehicles, but it's clear they hold a lot of potential for creating a more sustainable future. If we transitioned all the light-duty vehicles in the U.S. to hybrids or plug-in electric vehicles using our current technology mix, we could reduce our dependence on foreign oil by 30-60 percent, while lowering the carbon pollution from the transportation sector by as much as 20 percent.

To help reach these emissions savings, in 2012 President Obama launched the EV Everywhere Grand Challenge -- an Energy Department initiative that brings together America's best and brightest scientists, engineers and businesses to make plug-in electric vehicles more as affordable as today's gasoline-powered vehicles by 2022. On the battery front, the Department's Joint Center for Energy Storage Research at Argonne National Laboratory is working to overcome the biggest scientific and technical barriers that prevent large-scale improvements of batteries.

And the Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is advancing game-changing technologies that could alter how we think of electric vehicles. From investing in new types of batteries that could go further on a single charge to cost-effective alternatives to materials critical to electric motors, ARPA-E's projects could transform electric vehicles.

In the end, only time will tell what road electric vehicles will take in the future.

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Introduced more than 100 years ago, electric cars are seeing a rise in popularity today for many of the same reasons they were first popular. Whether it's a hybrid, plug-in hybrid or all-electric, the demand for electric drive vehicles will continue to climb as prices drop and consumers look for ways to save money at the pump.

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Built the first successful e car

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He improved the lead acid battery

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This is my main website that I use to get my info i got a lot of information from this

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Independent journalism investigating today’s national and international issues.