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A BRIEF HISTORY OF ELECTRIC CARS

1. The Beginning The year 1800 may be accepted as the beginning of the electric vehicle history when Alessandro Volta invented Voltaic (primary) Cell and managed to store electrical energy for the first time. First working electric motors were introduced in 1832 and 1835 respectively in Paris and in London. In 1835 Prof. Stratingh from Holland introduced his light-weight vehicle in which he used a voltaic battery and an electrical motor. After a period of relative recession in 1859, as a huge development, Gaston Plante invented the lead-acid cell, the first rechargeable (secondary) battery. 2. First Road Vehicles In 1881, G. Trouve from France built the first vehicle to be powered by a Plante (secondary) battery. This vehicle had a weight of 160 kg and a maximum speed of about 12km/h. In 1882, Prof. William Ayrton and John Perry from England made a three wheeler vehicle which used a 0,5 hp AC motor powered by batteries of 1,5 kW capacity. The maximum speed of the vehicle was 14 km/h and it had a range about 16-40 km. This was 3 years before Carl Benz made the first internal combustion engine vehicle which was also a three wheeler. 3. The Races In the year of 1895, racing events which tested the endurance and speed of cars started to be arranged around Europe and USA. In the same year, an electric racing car driven by Charles Jeantaud (Fig. 1) attended the race of Paris-Bordeux. The track was 1.135 km long and the car managed to complete only the half of the race, despite changing batteries in every 40 km. Although it became unsuccessful, it managed to draw all the attention on itself. And after this race, electric cars with changeable batteries were widely used for over 15 years. The number of the electric vehicles that were attending the races increased every day after this race.

Fig. 1 Charles Jeantauds racing car, 1895

Important developments in electric vehicle technologies were taking place in France too. In 1897, the electric vehicle introduced by M.A Darracq had the first regenerative breaking system of history. It had a %10 positive effect on the cars range. In the year of 1897, there were 15 electric taxis in England and 13 in the USA. Electric vehicles of that age were suitable for using as taxis because of the short distances they had to take and their ability of being fully charged easily at night. 4. Electric Vehicles vs. Combustion Engines When it came to the year of 1900 electric vehicles were sharing the market equally with combustion engine vehicles. In the year of 1899 a very significant event happened. An electric racing car driven by French Camille Jenatzy (Fig. 2) broke the World Speed record with a speed of 98km/h. Its aerodynamically shaped body was made of an aluminum-tungsten alloy. The car held the record for 3 years until an internal combustion engine broke that record. These electrical vehicles had 2 main advantages over internal combustion engine vehicles: producing less noise and not needing to be grinding started.

Fig. 2 Jenatzys World Speed Record Breaker Electric Car, 1899 5. The Rise and the Fall of Electric Cars The years between 1900 and 1912 can be accepted as the golden era of the electric vehicles. When the year 1903 came in London, internal combustion engine cars were outnumbered by electric cars. On the other hand, the combustion engine vehicles were continuing to develop. In the year of 1906 the first challenging rival of the electric vehicles Ford model K showed up. Then the fatal blow came with the Ford model T in 1909 and the electric vehicles lost the war. The new silencer system and the starting system of the internal combustion engine vehicles had a big role on this win but their biggest advantages were in the range and price. For example, while Ford Model T was being sold for 550 $, a typical electric car of that time Century Electric Roadster (fig. 3) was being sold for 1.750 $ which was more than 3 times the price of the internal combustion engine car.

Fig. 3 Ford Model T, 1909 and Century Roadster Electric vehicles were continuing to be developed to catch up with the combustion engine cars. Ferdinand Porches Lohner-Porche Rennwagen racing car (fig. 4) is an example of this. In order to obtain the range and the performance he wanted, he used batteries weighing 1800 kg and an electric motor of 1.5 kw on each wheel.

Fig. 4 Ferdinand Porches Lohner-Porche Rennwagen racing car During the World War 1 (1914-1918), internal combustion engines proved their reliability and their values under the most challenging conditions in the front lines. After this date, electric vehicles continued to decrease in numbers where as internal combustion engine vehicles continued their dramatic increase in numbers. The last production electric car before the modern times was made in 1921 by Automatic Transmission Company in New York. It had a range of 100km and a maximum speed of 40 km/h. It was sold for 1.200 $ during the time that Ford Model T had a 300 $ price tag. 6. Realizing the Importance of Electric Vehicles With the upcoming of air-pollution problem in 1960s first, small companies started working on developing electric cars. Almost all of them were the modified versions of conventional internal combustion engine cars. Then some big companies like GM and Ford began to produce prototypes of electric cars. Ford Motor Company built a protype named Ford Comuta in 1967. It was 2 m long and 1,4 m high. It was powered by two series-wound motors driving the rear wheels. The motors were

18 kg each and had a diameter of 14 cm. The 4 lead-acid batteries weighted 170 kg in total. The car could reach a maximum range of 65km and had a maximum speed of 40 km/h. The car was never mass produced. Other significant models of those years were General Electrics Delta which could reach 64km range and 90 km/h and GM modified Opel Kadette which could reach 48 km/h and 240 km range. Except the development of AC drive, an important progress couldnt be made in those years. Electric vehicles still had a big price disadvantage. In 1972 Sebring-Vanguard Company produced the Citicar (fig. 5) and managed to sell 2.500 of the model, a record they would hold until 1990s, although the 2 seater had a low range of 40 km and a maximum speed of 70 km/h. This particular example shows the importance of price in a cars success. In Japan, manufacturers like Daihatsu, Toyota, Mazda and Mitsubishi worked on developing electrical prototypes throughout the 70s. They received government funding for this mission. However, no significant development was recorded in these years.

Fig. 5 Sebring Vanguard Citicar In 1980s, governments continued funding the companies on developing electric cars for the environment. Ford produced the GE ETX-1 with this funding. The car had an advanced DC drive for its date. When the year of 1988 came, the number of electric cars had reached over 500 in France. They were mostly modified Peugeot 205s and Citroen C1s. In Germany, Volkswagen introduced a modified Golf named Stromer in 1988. The motor had electronic control and provided 90 km of range with the contribution of a regenerative braking system. In the late 1980s, AC motors had taken the place of DCs. These were synchronous motors and induction motors. In 1990 California Air Resources Board (CARB) put the clean air act into to effect and imposed an obligation for companies who sold more than 35.000 cars per year. According to this act, every year they had to sell a number of zero emission cars equal to the %2 of the cars they sold in total. With the upcoming of this act, the developments in the field of electric vehicles gained speed.

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