By the 1930s, gasoline powered cars had taken over the market, with electric cars disappearing from the marketplace.įast forward to the 1950s. Eventually, the growth of gasoline-powered cars from companies like Ford and General Motors helped lower the prices of these vehicles to almost half the price of their electric counterparts. By 1900, only 22 percent of cars were powered by gasoline, while 40 percent were electric and the remaining 38 percent ran on steam.Įventually, improvements in internal combustion engines and the invention of the electric starter made gasoline powered cars a better - and cheaper - option. Thomas Parker, the man behind making the London Underground electric, was the first to create an electric car suitable for production in 1884 using rechargeable batteries.
The first ones go back as far as 1880, and they were common into the early 20th century. But the emergence of electric cars dates back further than you think.
And, of course, hybrids like the Prius dot the highways.
Spotting a fancy new Tesla on the road might seem novel, but electric cars are nothing new.
