Electric vs. Petrol: How We Almost Had It Right the First Time

In 1900, a third of American cars were electric. Why did petrol engines take over, and what brought the electric motor back? At the turn of the 20th century, electric cars were quiet, clean, and simple to operate with the flip of a switch. Petrol engines were a different story, requiring a dangerous manual crank that could snap a driver's wrist—a common injury known as the chauffeur's fracture. This video traces the divergence of these two paths, exploring the early dominance of electric models and the shifts that eventually pushed petrol to the forefront. We look at the engineering battles that defined early automotive history and the eventual resurgence of battery power. By examining the specific mechanics of early vehicle technology, we can see how the convenience of a starter motor changed the industry forever, setting the stage for the modern transition we see today. Subscribe for weekly deep dives into the small details that built our world, and comment below: would you have driven an electric car in 1900? 0:00 The Forgotten Era of Electric Cabs 1:01 How Internal Combustion Engines Work 2:26 The Science Behind Electric Motors 4:03 The Rise, Fall, and Return of Electric Sources: A third electric in 1900, $650 vs $1,750, the starter, gone by 1935, the Prius: US DOE, "The History of the Electric Car" New York's electric cabs, 1897: National Geographic; Time; Wikipedia "Electrobat" The chauffeur's fracture: Radiopaedia; Wikipedia Kettering's starter on the 1912 Cadillac: The Henry Ford; Hagerty A quarter of new cars plug in, 20 million+ in 2025: IEA Global EV Outlook 2026 12-30 % of petrol moves the car; 77 %+ for EVs: fueleconomy.gov Energy per kilogram: APS News (Aug 2012) Torque from zero and one gear: Autocar India; Motor Authority Hybrids start the engine with a motor: SlashGear Music: "Local Forecast - Elevator" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Narration: AI voice (Azure). Animated with Remotion. Easify-Ed: easy to watch, hard to forget. #ElectricCars #HowCarsWork #Explained