The Electric Vehicle Revolution & History of EV's
We are in the midst of a battery powered vehicle revolution! Purely electric powered vehicles have so many performance, maintenance and environmental advantages over conventional gas-powered vehicles, they are destined to dominate the streets of the future. These types of vehicles have come a long way over the last decades, with the concerns about limited range, long charging times and poor performance becoming a thing of the past.
Electric Vehicles have been around since the turn of the century. At that time the only other powered method of transportation were the steam & internal combustion engines. EV's were preferred by those that could afford them, since they did not require building up steam or manually cranking to start an internal combustion engine. But back in the early 1900s EV's had very limited range and capabilities due to the battery technology at the time. Due to these limitations and the electric starter, the internal combustion engine became the main method of powering a vehicle.
In 1996 General Motors introduced the EV-1, which was the first viable electric vehicle. Although these cars were only available for lease, and it only had an effective range of about 80-90 miles, the customers that leased them, loved them! Just about all of those who leased them wanted to buy them. But GM would not sell any of them, once the lease was up, all the EV-1’s had to be returned. Why GM would not sell them and what eventually happened to them is still debated today. It is said that most all of them were taken to a remote desert location and destroyed. Perhaps Big Oil had something to do that!
In 2008 Tesla Motors introduced the Roadster. This EV had many limitations compared to the Tesla EV's sold today, but it proved they could become a viable means of transportation. The research and development of that car paved the way to today's vehicles with over 350 miles of range that Tesla mass produces today. This technology developed by Tesla was shared with and is being used by automakers all around the world!
Yes, in February 2018 SpaceX did send Elon Musk’s personal Roadster into space
2008 Tesla Roadster
