There is no argument that electric cars are the way of the future. That is, until we find the next great “magic” power source. Many will look back to the General Motors EV1 in the late 1990’s, or maybe to the concept Electrovette in 1976. We can look to the moon rovers built in 1971 of the Apollo moon missions. This is already looking back over 50 years in history and we haven’t come close to their beginning.
The First on Record
Believe it or not, the first battery-powered electric car came about before the technology for rechargeable batteries. It was 1832 and a Scottish man by the name of Robert Anderson affixed an electric motor and a series of non-rechargable galvanic cells to his once horse-drawn carriage. This was over 190 years ago, just 56 years after the signing of the American Declaration of Independence. Due to it’s limited range and the need for complete battery replacement it was seen as little more than a sideshow gimmick.
You may think this was the end of the electric concept for a while. Just five years later in 1837 and then an upgraded model in 1841 another Scot, Robert Davidson of Aberdeen, built an electric locomotive to shudder the knees of railway workers of the day. Using the same style batteries of Anderson’s, Davidson demonstrated his locomotive which he named Galvani. Boasting a haul of six tons 4mph over 1.5 miles, the railway workers felt their jobs tending steam engines were under attack by Davidson’s “Devil Machine”. They made quick work of dismantling the problem.
A Glimmer of Hope
It wasn’t until Gaston Planté invented the lead-acid battery in 1859 that electric vehicles became a plausible concept. Batteries could now be recharged and reused instead of discarded. This was the first recognized rechargeable battery and the grandfather of modern car batteries. They actually resemble best the inner workings of modern AGM (“Absorbed Glass Mat”) batteries. It modestly consisted of a linen cloth sandwiched between two sheets of lead, rolled into a spiral, placed in a glass jar, and immersed in a sulfuric acid solution. Today in place of linen and a glass jar, we now use fiberglass and a polypropylene case. This invention opened a range of power possibilities not just limited to transportation.
Competition
Over the next 150 years, countless companies tried to compete electric cars against their internal combustion counterparts. Times of fuel scarcity spiked electric popularity. During WWII fuel became scarce if it was available at all. This encouraged vehicle manufacturers to convert existing chassis meant for gasoline and diesel engines to electric. In Japan the fuel shortage prompted the government to encourage the production of electric cars which led to the creation of the company we know today as Nissan, changing hands and names several times between then and now.
Later during the mid-1970s another American fuel shortage came. OPEC imposed an oil embargo in 1973 that quadrupled oil prices almost overnight. With that shortage came a slew of electric options, none of which were, shall we say, attractive. All of them eyesores. All of them had a charge range of fewer than 100 miles, most less than 50 miles.
This continued through 1980 when some economists estimated fuel prices would surpass $2.50/gallon, the equivalent of around $9/gallon today. One better-known concept during this period between 1977 and 1979 was the Electrovette, an electric conversion of the Chevrolet Chevette. With this crisis waning, GM decided to discontinue this project.
Soaring into the later 1990s came a drive from the eco-community, a California mandate. In 1990 CARB, California Air Resources Board, adopted new Low Emission Vehicle regulations stating that 10 percent of new vehicle sales would be required to be zero-emission. As part of their plan a Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Program was set in place. This plan required that by 1998 2 percent of new vehicle sales were to be zero-emission, which only electric vehicles qualified for. In response to this requirement in 1996 GM took a different route than they did with the Electrovette. Instead of retrofitting electric components into an existing chassis design, they created the GM EV1.
While the EV1 was an improvement from earlier models with an estimated range of 70-to-160 miles thanks to its more advanced NiMH battery, it wasn’t enough to hold up to its gasoline counterparts. Only 800 were leased between 1996 and 2003, creating a financial black hole for the company. This period did, however, bring to light the technology necessary for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt hybrid and the fully electric 2017 Chevrolet Bolt. The mandates continue today with 35 percent of new vehicle sales in California being required to be of zero-emission vehicles by 2026 and a complete ban on new combustion vehicles in 2035.
Each time the electrics fell to the same downfalls: lack of performance, short range, and an exorbitant price tag.
Electric Today
Today the big name on the board is Tesla, and for good reason. Starting from their first model in 2005 (officially revealed in July 2006), the Tesla Roadster, they have taken the industry by storm. Between advancements in motor power and efficiency, battery capacity and stability, and an impressive autopilot system, Tesla has made itself the standard of the electric car industry.
Their most impressive model as of 2023 is the Tesla Model S with advertised ratings of 1,020 horsepower and over 400 miles of EPA estimated range. Of course, for those numbers you pay for what you get with a price tag of $114,990 for the base model and $138,990 for the all-inclusive package.
For those who don’t need to feel the adrenaline of a rocket launch every time they go out for ice cream with the kids, they also offer the Model 3. The Model 3 still offers 258-to-450hp and a range of up to 358 miles per charge, of which 175 miles can reportedly be charged in 15 minutes.
Recent battery breakthroughs teeter between improving capacity, stability, recyclability, charging speed, cost, and weight. While one compound allows for cheaper, more stable, more recyclable batteries, another allows for higher power density leading to a longer range.
What About Tomorrow?
With advancements, what can we expect for the future of electric vehicles? Costs should gradually decrease, pending inflation of course. Power and efficiency should increase with better longevity. Battery life and charging speed should continue to improve. All these things we should expect, but how?
One advancement that is currently being developed by a Tesla research partner is a battery with promising test results that could last through 100 years of charging cycles and 4 million miles. According to a paper by Dalhousie University’s Professor Jeff Dahn, the compound for these new batteries has been in testing since 2017 and has only lost 5% of its original charging capacity.
Another potential advancement from a California-based company is a Nano Diamond Battery that is made from nuclear waste and boasts to be a self-charging system while repurposing nuclear powerplant waste.
All of these advancements aren’t just limited to cars. They are being translated into trucks, trains, commercial transport semis, and in marine applications.
We have come a long way in the last 190 years, most of that in the last 20. The future is looking bright for the electric vehicle industry. If this is all here today, what could tomorrow look like?