The Rise & Fall of Electric Vehicles in 1828-1930: Lessons Learned

T he dawn of commercialization of electric vehicles is upon us. Nevertheless it is very interesting to note that commercialization of electric vehicles was in fact successful in the early 20th century. This paper scans our past in the research, development, and commercialization of electric vehicles commencing from their invention in 1828 until their almost nonexistence in 1930. Their features in the technology development, production from small scale to commercial scale, applications from private users to commercial ones, and the corresponding charging infrastructure and business model are all analyzed and compared with the present development. Therefore, lessons can be learned from history to speed up our present development and avoid the same mistakes as in the past.