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Thomas davenport is credited with creating the first practical electric automobile
(http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/223/electric-car-timeline.html) -
French physicist Gaston Planté invents the rechargeable lead-acid storage battery.
(http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/223/electric-car-timeline.html) -
William Morrison builds the first sucessful electric automobile in the U.S.
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Charles Kettering invents the first practical electric automobile starter eliminating the need to use the unweildy hand crank starter and ultimately leads to the electric cars downfall.
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Its downfall occurred because of the desire for longer distance vehicles, their lack of horsepower, and the ready availability of gasoline.
(http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/223/electric-car-timeline.html) -
The OPEC oil embargo of 1937 sky rocketed gasoline prices and sparked interest in alternatives and in 1976 Congress passed the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development, and Demonstration Act, which authorized the Energy Department to support research and development in electric and hybrid
vehicles.
(http://www.businessinsider.com/electric-automobile-history-2015-12/) -
During the 90's automakers began modifying some of their popular vehicle models into electric vehicles. This meant that electric vehicles could match the speed and performance of gas powered cars, and many of them had a range of 60 miles.
(https://energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car) -
The first hybrid electric vehicle that was mass-produced was the Prius in 2000 and became an instant sucess. At the time the car costed around $20,000
(https://energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car)
(http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1084579_is-the-2001-2003-toyota-prius-a-good-used-car-buy) -
it was the announcement in 2006 that a small Silicon Valley startup, Tesla Motors, would start producing a luxury electric sports car that could go more than 200 miles on a single charge.
(https://energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car) -
Telsa's success spurred many big automakers to accelerate work on their own electric vehicles and in late 2010, the Chevy Volt and the Nissan LEAF were released in the U.S. market.
(https://energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car) -
New batter technology began hitting the market helping to improve a plug-in electric vehicle’s range which was made by the Energy Department’s Vehicle Technologies Office. The department invested in battery research and development which cut costs over these 4 years while improving the vehicle batteries performance.
(https://energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car) -
Consumers of the Electric car were still faced with a problem of charging the vehicle on the go. The Energy department invested over $115 Million to build a nationwide charging infastructure installing more than 18,000 charging stations for both commercial and public use throughout the country.
