Electric cars have been around for a very long time, Robert Anderson, a Scottish inventor is said to have invented the world's first electric car somewhere in the range of 1832-1839. There were several more makes and models invented by various inventors in the years following but Americans did not really focus on them until 1895 and the first electric auto did not hit the streets until 1897. Some manufacturers included Studebaker. They started out producing electric cars and then switched over to gas powered. Another manufacturer of that era was the Columbia & Electric Vehicle company. One more was Detroit electric and it's succeeding company names-they manufactured electric cars from 1907-1939. Early in the 20th century several of the largest automakers were selling more electric cars than gas-powered autos. Thomas Edison was the owner of several electric cars but preferred to spend most of his time working on perfecting the battery for the car rather than the car itself. Charging the battery and keeping it charged was a problem unlike the ease of the plug-in electric cars today. People recognized that the electric vehicles had several advantages over gas powered vehicles including not having to crank the engine to get it started or not having to shift the vehicle. Other benefits included no noise, no vibrations and no odor and also no pollution coming from the vehicle. Henry Ford started mass producing gas powered vehicles in 1908 which eventually led to people buying more gas powered than electric cars. Even though there were several advantages to driving an electric car, their popularity decreased and from 1920-1980, gas powered cars became the car of choice. Perhaps if better batteries and plug-in electric cars had been available making it more convenient to recharge then history might have taken a different turn. Even though a bill was put before Congress as early as 1966 advocating the use of electric cars to reduce pollution it had no long lasting effect. Even though there was increasing interest in electric cars as the years went by it wasn't until around 1990 when these concerns about fuel efficiency and pollution became more pressing resulting in action. In 2006, it was estimated that there were between 60 and 75 thousand low speed electric cars in use. Electric Drive Transportation Association claims that these vehicles are low speed, battery powered vehicles. Presently it's estimated that there are 100,000 electric cars being driven around in American communities nationwide. An electric car does not need to be a low speed vehicle-electric vehicles can travel up to and perhaps go a little faster than 50 mph possessing good acceleration abilities and a range of up to 200 miles. Even though these kinds of vehicles are not presently being mass produced on America you can still have one. It just requires some motivation, a dash of information, some parts and a place to put it all together. With the kind of batteries that are available today driving a plug-in electric car is not too difficult. We've come a very long way from the world's first electric cars. We now have plug-in electric cars available by converting an existing gas powered vehicle. Helping to put more electric cars on the road would be one way to help alleviate the amount of pollution being spewed into our air by vehicles worldwide. Click for more information about how you can drive a plug-in electric car
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