The world’s first reasonably functional electric vehicle was made in 1881 – just over a year after Edison’s public unveiling of the electric light bulb. It travelled up to fourteen kilometres an hour.
You can read all about the new reverse-engineered model here. The opening paragraph:
As more and more mainstream car manufacturers join a new wave of electric vehicle development, it looks like we’re definitely headed for an electric transport future. While powering a car with an electric motor is not exactly a new innovation, you may be surprised to learn exactly how old the technology is. A team led by Horst Schultz – the director and founder of Germany’s Autovision Museum – has spent the last year or so painstakingly recreating the world’s first street-ready electric car, designed and created by English scientists William Ayrton and John Perry, and which first hit the streets in 1881.
Someone has been reading Cracked again….
Ann: Actually, no! That I saw through facebook.
Lol – I did too – someone linked to the Cracked article on Facebook!
Ann: Gotta love the way modern tech fuels a love for old tech.
I just found that this looks really good and loads heaps better when I view it on my phone! Guess how i’m going to check your blog from now on?
W: cool. What kind of phone?
It’s my Nokia, using Ovi as the OS.