How old is the electric vehicle, really?
Electric cars outsold gasoline cars in 1900.
The answer
The first crude electric vehicle was built around 1832 by Scottish inventor Robert Anderson, predating the gasoline car by over 50 years. By 1900, electric cars outsold both steam and gasoline vehicles in the United States, prized for their quiet operation and lack of hand-cranking. They declined after Henry Ford's affordable Model T (1908) and the discovery of cheap Texas oil. The modern EV renaissance began with Tesla's Roadster in 2008, and by 2023 global EV sales exceeded 14 million units annually.
Source: Department of Energy
- electric vehicles
- history
- transportation
- Tesla
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