Electric vehicle

An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road and rail vehicles, electric boats and submersibles, electric aircraft and electric spacecraft.

Early electric vehicles first came into existence in the late 19th century, when the Second Industrial Revolution brought forth electrification and mass utilization of DC and AC electric motors. Using electricity was among the preferred methods for motor vehicle propulsion as it provided a level of quietness, comfort and ease of operation that could not be achieved by the gasoline engine cars of the time, but range anxiety due to the limited energy storage offered by contemporary battery technologies hindered any mass adoption of private electric vehicles throughout the 20th century. Internal combustion engines (both gasoline and diesel engines) were the dominant propulsion mechanisms for cars and trucks for about 100 years, but electricity-powered locomotion remained commonplace in other vehicle types, such as overhead line-powered mass transit vehicles like electric trains, trams, monorails and trolley buses, as well as various small, low-speed, short-range battery-powered personal vehicles such as mobility scooters.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles use electric motors as the primary propulsion method, rather than as a supplement, and did not see any mass production until the late 2000s, and battery electric cars did not become practical options for the consumer market until the 2010s.

Progress in batteries, electric motors and power electronics has made electric cars more feasible than during the 20th century. As a means of reducing tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants, and to reduce the use of fossil fuels, government incentives are available in many areas to promote the adoption of electric cars.

Electric motive power started in 1827 when Hungarian priest Ányos Jedlik built the first rudimentary yet functional electric motor; the next year he used it to power a small model car. In 1835, Professor Sibrandus Stratingh of the University of Groningen, in the Netherlands, built a miniature electric vehicle car, and sometime between 1832 and 1839, Robert Anderson of Scotland invented the first crude electric carriage, powered by non-rechargeable primary cells. American blacksmith and inventor Thomas Davenport built a toy electric locomotive, powered by a primitive electric motor, in 1835. In 1838, a Scotsman named Robert Davidson built an electric locomotive that attained a speed of four miles per hour (6 km/h). In England, a patent was granted in 1840 for the use of rails as conductors of electric current, and similar American patents were issued to Lilley and Colten in 1847.

The first mass-produced electric vehicles appeared in America in the early 1900s. In 1902, the Studebaker Automobile Company entered the automotive business with electric vehicles, though it also entered the gasoline vehicles market in 1904. However, with the advent of cheap assembly line cars by Ford Motor Company, the popularity of electric cars declined significantly.

Due to a lack of electricity grids and the limitations of storage batteries at that time, electric cars did not gain much popularity; however, electric trains gained immense popularity due to their economies and achievable speeds. By the 20th century, electric rail transport became commonplace due to advances in the development of electric locomotives. Over time the general-purpose commercial use of electric cars was reduced to specialist roles as platform trucks, forklift trucks, ambulances, tow tractors, and urban delivery vehicles, such as the iconic British milk float. For most of the 20th century, the UK was the world's largest user of electric road vehicles.

Electrified trains were used for coal transport, as the motors did not use the valuable oxygen in the mines. Switzerland's lack of natural fossil resources forced the rapid electrification of their rail network. One of the earliest rechargeable batteries – the nickel–iron battery – was favored by Edison for use in electric cars.