ELECTRIC VEHICLES. The first vehi cles operated by electric power from a storage battery appeared in 1892, but they failed to attract the attention of the public until 1900, when the very superior performance of the electric carriage in a winter parade in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, gave them immediate prominence. The chain-drive models appeared in 1904, and continued the prevailing type until 1908, when the shaft-drive for the smaller vehicles was adopted. Up to that time electric vehicles were equipped with pneumatic tires. By 1912, however, solid rubber tires had been generally substituted and the battery had been enlarged to 40 cells. These two changes were the cause of a great improvement in the quality of the metal used in constructing the electric car, in order that the jars of the road might be completely absorbed and the additional weight safely carried. The result has been that the electric vehicle is the highest class of all self-propelled cars.
For city use and for the short haul, the electric possesses many advantages over steam and gasoline vehicles, the most considerable being its simplicity of construction. There are only three parts to the mechanism : the battery, the motor and the controller — no gears, no clutch and no engine as in the gasoline and steam driven cars. The motor is an engine of the rotary type, delivering a continuous torque at any desired speed up to 25 miles per hour, without the crude and bulky mechanism which controls the two or three speeds between which choice must be made with the gasoline car. Moreover the operation is noiseless. There are no nauseous odors of gasoline and burnt oil, and there is no danger from fire. The car can be started instantly and surely by simply throw ing a switch and there are no jerks or jolts in either starting or stopping abruptly. No chauffeur is needed, the car practically taking care of itself and seldom needing any repairs or expert attention. The great drawbacks are two — the weight of the storage battery which supplies the current and the limited radius of operation from a single charging of the battery, about 30 to 35 miles. In some European vehi cles the radius of travel is as high as 60 miles, the weight of the battery being doubled. The usual type of battery constitutes about one third of the weight of the car and costs about $350. The lead battery is good for 10,000 miles and then has to be replaced with a new one. The Edison battery costs a good deal more, but is guaranteed for four years, during which a car may easily make 60,000 miles, so that while the Edison battery costs more to in stall it is very much more economical in the long run. The average consumption of energy is about 100 watt-hours per ton mile.
But it is not as the passenger or pleasure car that the electric vehicle demonstrates its greatest utility. This lies rather in the com mercial world, where the small truck of mode rate capacity is widely in use, in as many as 124 lines of trade. As taxicabs in cities where the speed limit is 15 miles per hour, the elec tric excels, showing almost no delays for derangement of machinery, no tire trouble, great elasticity in movement in crowded thor oughfares, no repair account and the cheapest motive power. The last-named feature has be come still more marked as the cost of gasoline goes up and the cost of electric current is con tinually diminishing. An electric taxicab on
trial in Detroit made the remarkable record of 12,000 miles in one year without any repair whatever. Another field in which the elec tric has made good is as the light delivery wagon, especially for the large department stores. For this use the slow-speed type of motor is in favor, running about 800 to 900 revolutions per minute, at 80 volts and 28 amperes, 4 pole series type, unsaturated. The winding is arranged for either 60 or 80 volts on larger trucks, to be used with a 60-cell Edison or 42-cell lead battery, respectively. These motors run without attention except an oc casional renewing of the brushes and lubrica tion, for from eight months to a year. The control most generally in use is the horizontal lever, and there is a motor brake besides an efficient foot brake. The standard battery equipment is 42 cells of 15 plates each for the lead type, or 60 Edison cells of the G-7 type. For the establishment which runs its own electric plant the matter of charging the bat teries becomes merely a matter of adjustment to the other work of the plant. In several cities the battery rental plan has proved popu lar with owners of electric vehicles. The cars can be bought without the battery and this be supplied at a stated rate per month, the battery being charged as often as exhausted. The cost of such service is not excessive, being about half the initial cost of a new battery, and there are no delays while the battery is being charged — the exhausted battery being lifted out and the fresh one put in its place.
The electric type, however, is not limited to the lighter service, as five-ton trucks are oper ated successfully in the transportation of coal, ice, flour, sugar, lumber, beer, etc. Fire engines to run at a speed of 25 miles per hour are in use in some cities, a particularly effective ladder truck being able to divert its motive power to raising a 90-foot ladder, which is accomplished in 10 seconds. In several of the larger cities the Post-Office Department uses two-ton electric trucks to move mail in bulk, there being 20 of these in New York alone. For motive power for baggage and freight trucks in railroad terminals and on docks, electricity has been proved highly efficient. These little vehi cles have a speed of seven to eight miles per hour when empty, and five to six miles per hour when loaded and cost to run about one cent per mile. Other adaptations of the electric vehicle are the truck crane for loading and unloading and moving materials in foundries and other manufactories of heavy products and in workshops and their yards, as road machines and road tractors, as warehouse trucks for moving goods and deliver ing them to gangways, as mine locomotives and in place of hand trucks in loading and unload ing vessels.
One of the incidental advantages of the electric vehicle is the very considerable saving in insurance costs, both for the vehicle itself and for the premises in which it is stored.
In 1916 there were 40 concerns engaged in building electric vehicles and the number in use in the United States was estimated at above 60,000.