History of EVs

Does anyone know the very first EV?

[QUOTE=Jose Marc;13510]Does anyone know the very first EV?[/QUOTE]

I hope this helps,between 1832 and 1839 Robert Anderson of Scotland I believe developed the first crude electric carriage. Around 1835, a small scale electric car was designed by Prof. Stratingh of Groninen Holand and built by his assistant Christopher Becker. Happy Motoring.:car:

From Wikipedia:
The invention of the electric vehicle is attributed to various people. In 1828, Ányos Jedlik, a Hungarian who invented an early type of electric motor, created a tiny model car powered by his new motor. In 1834, Vermont blacksmith Thomas Davenport, the inventor of the first American DC electrical motor, installed his motor in a small model car, which he operated on a short circular electrified track.[1] In 1835, Professor Sibrandus Stratingh of Groningen, the Netherlands and his assistant Christopher Becker created a small-scale electrical car, powered by non-rechargeable primary cells.[2] In 1838, Scotsman Robert Davidson built an electric locomotive that attained a speed of 4 mph (6.4 km/h).[3] Between 1832 and 1839, Robert Anderson of Scotland invented a crude electrical carriage.[4] A patent for the use of rails as conductors of electric current was granted in England in 1840, and similar patents were issued to Lilley and Colten in the United States in 1847.[5] Rechargeable batteries that provided a viable means for storing electricity on board a vehicle did not come into being until 1856 by French physicist Gaston Planté[6]

The invention of improved battery technology, including efforts by Gaston Plante in France in 1865,[7] as well as his fellow countryman Camille Faure in 1881,[8] paved the way for electric cars to flourish in Europe. An electric-powered two-wheel cycle was put on display at the 1867 World Exposition in Paris by the Austrian inventor Franz Kravogl.[9] France and Great Britain were the first nations to support the widespread development of electric vehicles.[4] The lack of natural fossil resources in Switzerland resulted in the tiny European nation’s rapid electrification of its railway network to reduce its dependence on foreign energy. In November 1881, French inventor Gustave Trouvé demonstrated a working three-wheeled automobile at the International Exhibition of Electricity in Paris.[10] English inventor Thomas Parker, who was responsible for innovations such as electrifying the London Underground, overhead tramways in Liverpool and Birmingham, and the smokeless fuel coalite, claimed to have perfected a working electric car as early as 1884.[11]

Electric trains were also used to transport coal out of mines, as their motors did not use up precious oxygen. Before the pre-eminence of internal combustion engines, electric automobiles also held many speed and distance records.[12] Among the most notable of these records was the breaking of the 100 km/h (62 mph) speed barrier, by Camille Jenatzy on April 29, 1899 in his ‘rocket-shaped’ vehicle Jamais Contente, which reached a top speed of 105.88 km/h (65.79 mph). Also notable was Ferdinand Porsche’s design and construction of an all-wheel drive electric car, powered by a motor in each hub, which also set several records in the hands of its owner E.W. Hart.

In America
Though Thomas Davenport was among the first to install an electric motor into a vehicle, an electric car in the conventional sense was not developed until 1890 or 1891, by William Morrison of Des Moines, Iowa; the vehicle was a six-passenger wagon capable of reaching a speed of 14 miles per hour (23 km/h). It was not until 1895 that Americans began to devote attention to electric vehicles, after A.L. Ryker introduced the first electric tricycles to the U.S., by that point, Europeans had been making use of electric tricycles, bicycles, and cars for almost 15 years. Many innovations followed, and interest in motor vehicles increased greatly in the late 1890s and early 1900s. In 1897, electric vehicles found their first commercial application as a fleet of electrical New York City taxis, built by the Electric Carriage and Wagon Company of Philadelphia, was established. Electric cars were produced in the U.S. by Anthony Electric, Baker, Columbia, Anderson, Edison, Studebaker, Riker, and others during the early 20th century. In 1911, the first gasoline-electric hybrid car was released by the Woods Motor Vehicle Company of Chicago. The hybrid was a commercial failure, proving to be too slow for its price, and too difficult to service.[13]