“In the US, 38% of all vehicles run on electricity alone.” It sounds like a report from the future, but it’s actually a snapshot from the past. In around 1900, 40% of all vehicles in the United States were steam-powered, 22% ran on gasoline and 38% were electric. In New York the ratio was even higher with one in two cars being all-electric during this time. It’s astounding to learn that the past was, in some ways, a step ahead of us today.

What we’re trying to say is: electromobility is anything but new. Back in 1881, French electrical engineer Gustave Trouvé  unveiled a tricycle with a rechargeable battery and electric engine, which reached speeds of 12 km per hour (roughly 7 mph), at the International Exposition of Electricity in Paris. Electric cars were bang on trend between 1896 and 1912. Numerous tinkerers were fine-tuning batteries and engines – just like they are now. With remarkable results: the electric cars back then already had a range of around 100 kilometres (62 miles). In around 1900, tens of thousands of electric cars came off the production line. The first motorised taxis in New York, for example, were electric. Even the Walt Disney character Grandma Duck moved with the times by driving around in an electric car.

Grand Central Terminal Station, New York City 

The triumph of the combustion engine. 

Starting in 1910, electric cars slowly disappeared from the streetscape. 

Cars with combustion engines went on sale from around 1910. They had a major advantage over electric cars in that they had a starting motor, so vehicles no longer had to be started with a hand crank – a laborious task. They were also much cheaper and had a better range. As a consequence, combustion engines triumphed and electric cars disappeared from the streets. They became quite niche and were mainly used in local transport. In the UK, for example, the milk floats that used to deliver glass milk bottles to homes were powered by electricity. Electric vehicles were also a popular choice for delivering fish to fish market auctions, as the exhaust gases from combustion engines were banned from the auction halls.

But by and large, electric vehicles lived in the shadows. This only gradually started to change in the 1990s, when people generally became increasingly aware of issues such as air pollution, climate change and fossil fuels as a finite resource. But there was no breakthrough. Electric cars were only produced in low volumes – they weren’t that popular.