This is the final piece of my three-parter on the history of electric cars. Here, we move up to the present day and the exciting developments that have happened in the last few years, where EVs are close to becoming mainstream. 2003-04 G.M. and DaimlerChrysler sue the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to repeal the ZEV mandate passed in 1990. The Bush Administration joins the suit. G.M. announces that it will not renew leases on its EV1 cars and that it plans to reclaim the cars by the end of 2004.

A continuation of my previous article on EVs during the 19th Century, I now cover some significant events in the 20th century around electric cars. Arguably, during this time period, EVs had two chances to become mainstream, but both were impacted by events in the energy industry. 1902 If there is one key event that killed the EV’s chances in the 20th Century - this is it. The hugely successful Model-T Ford began mass production.

This is the first part of a three-parter on the history of EVs across the last 200 years or so. It comes from a Lunch & Learn presentation I did at work recently. I wanted to make a bit more visually pleasing, and break down the content into smaller sections. Here’s the first part - the dawn of electric motors, batteries, and the fledging automotive industry in the 19th Century.