People a while back preferred electric cars.?

Question

I just wanted to point this out and get your thoughts on this. I read this in eighth grade.

When cars were first being invented, an electric car was actually innovated. People preferred these cars to gas cars because they smelled better and were cleaner. The only problem was that they couldn't go fast enough to really get around like we do now. So, gas cars were reluctantly accepted. Soon, however, people just got used to them and today some people just love them.

Pretty interesting, huh? What do you think?

Answer 1

Check the web for the new compressed air cars....

It will shock you!

Answer 2

Yes very interesting, If people would have used more of the electric cars back then our environment wouldn't be in as bad of shape as it is in, But we are in the time of fast cars, and high horse power. two things electric cars can't provide

Answer 3

Electric cars were very expensive to operate.

An electric car requires approximately 2 to 3 kilowatt hours of electricity to operate per mile. If you travel 50 miles, that is 100 to 150 kilowatt hours of electricity. At 10 cents per kilowatt hour that is a cost of $10 to $15 in electricity to travel 50 miles.

Compare that to the cost of operating a modern hybrid car that can get 50 miles per gallon of gasoline. Even at $4 per gallon that is only $4 to travel 50 miles compared with $10 to $15 for the electricity of an electric car.

That is the reason that electric cars are no longer popular. They are too expensive to operate. Only the rich can afford them.

Answer 4

I think we're quick to forget that electricty takes energy to produce.  If we produce the eletricity hundreds of miles away, we don't see the polution.  But, it doesn't mean it's not there.  In fact, it take more energy because about 50% of the power is lost in the transmission lines.

Answer 5

It looks like you find this subject interesting.  I agree.  I watched a documentary on this subject that I think you will enjoy watching.  It was released in 2006 by Sony and it is about the GM produced EV1, an electric car which was very successful, but later abandoned for suspicious reasons.  The documentary is called, "Who Killed the Electric Car?".  Here is a website from the documentary:

http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledthe...

And you can read review of the documentary here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489037/

Answer 6

The popularity of the electric car early on was greatly due to the ease for women to operate them. They did not have to hand crank the engine over to start it and they did not have to adjust the engine timing to match the demands of the engine. The electric cars were easy to operate and clean to ride in. They were quiet and had good responses, as do modern day electric vehicles.

The main problem is the same as today: A short operating range. If the development that went into the internal combustion engine had gone into the development of batteries and electric motors cars would be very different today.

Answer 7

yea well people did prefer the electric car but unfortunately oil and media dominated and killed the electric car.