12 Forgotten Electric Cars America Tried Before Tesla

In 1914, Henry Ford's wife refused to drive a gasoline car. She plugged her Detroit Electric into the wall at home and drove 80 miles on a charge, and she was not unusual. In 1900, Americans bought more electric cars than gasoline cars. This countdown covers the 12 electric cars America built, sold, raced, and then forgot, long before Tesla: the 1890 Morrison surrey that wowed the Chicago World's Fair, the Electrobat cabs that gave Manhattan battery swapping and the country's first speeding arrest in the 1890s, the Riker that won America's first track race, Colonel Pope's Columbia, the Baker Torpedo that may have hit 100 mph in 1902, the 100-mile Fritchle that drove 1,800 miles from Nebraska to New York in 1908, the $500 electric Ford and Edison promised and never delivered, the Woods Dual Power hybrid of 1916, the Henney Kilowatt of 1959, the plastic CitiCar that made a Florida startup the sixth largest automaker in America, and the GM EV1 that was leased, loved, and crushed. Every one of them had the idea. None of them got to keep it. Tell me in the comments which one should have made it. Sources used in this video will be PINNED COMMENT Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 1:16 #12 Detroit Electric 2:52 #11 Morrison Electric 4:31 #10 Electrobat 6:18 #9 Riker Electric 8:03 #8 Columbia Electric 9:55 #7 Baker Electric 12:06 #6 Fritchle Electric 13:59 #5 Edison-Ford Electric 15:40 #4 Woods Dual Power 17:33 #3 Henney Kilowatt 19:17 #2 CitiCar 21:01 #1 General Motors EV1 23:25 Final Thoughts #electriccars #carhistory #classiccars #vintagecars #OldKeysClub #forgottencars #automotivehistory #nostalgia