February 26, 2015 at 10:54Dawn of electric vehicles: XIX century
At the end of the 19th century, electric cars and taxis rode around the cities of France and England; in 1889, a Russian engineer built a two-seater electric car with a power reserve of 1 km. And in the Soviet Union, an electric NAMI-751 with a carrying capacity of one and a half tons in 1948 transported mail, but that's another story. Under the cut - a brief excursion into the history of electric vehicles of the century before last.
The whole series of articles:
Dawn of electric vehicles: XIX century.
Dawn and sunset of electric vehicles: the first half of the XX century.
Electric car strikes back: the second half of the XX century.
Revenge of an electric car: the beginning of the XXI century.
The first internal combustion engine, suitable for use, was designed by the French inventor of Belgian origin, Etienne Lenoir, in 1860. The power of this engine was 12 horsepower, it worked on a mixture of air and light gas with electric spark ignition. An electric motor appeared earlier: in 1841 a trolley was equipped with it. Even earlier, in 1828, the Hungarian Agios Jedlik used an electric motor for a tiny, skateboard-like car.
In 1888, a three-wheeled car was introduced in the United States. Ten lead-acid batteries manufactured by Electrical Accumulator Company weighed about forty kilograms. The maximum design speed was eight miles per hour. Engine power - 0.5 horsepower. It was rather a three-wheeled electric bike.
In 1859-1860, Gaston Plante invented the lead battery; in 1878, Camill Fore improved its design. Today, these batteries are used in automotive or motor vehicles as starter batteries.
Thomas Perker was responsible for the electrification of the London Underground. And he designed and built this electric car in 1884. In addition, he himself developed a battery for his vehicle.
In 1889, the first Russian double electric car appeared. It was created by engineer Ippolit Romanov. In this front-wheel drive vehicle, passengers were seated in front, and the driver was in the rear seat on the seat above them. The batteries located in the compartment behind the passenger compartment were lighter than their analogues, which allowed to reduce the weight of the car to 720 kg. Popular at that time French "Zhanto" weighed1440 kg. The maximum speed was 35 km / h, and the power reserve was a little more than 1 kilometer. At 1800 rpm, each of the engines produced 4.4 kW, which is equivalent to 5.984 horsepower.
The first electric car in Germany was built by engineer Andreas Flocken in 1888. In this photo - one of the German electric cars in 1904.
The first electric car speed record was set in France on December 18, 1898 on a Jentaud car, "charged" with alkaline batteries. The speed was 62.792 km / h. After 4 months, the record was broken by the electric car Le Jamais Contende - this time the speed exceeded a hundred and amounted to 105.264 km / h.
The power reserve and speed in the late XIX - early XX centuries for electric vehicles and cars with an internal combustion engine were approximately the same, but recharging the batteries was somewhat more difficult - you could not just plug the electric car into a power outlet and wait a few hours, you needed an AC to DC converter. For this, an electric motor operating from alternating current was used - it rotated the generator shaft, to which the batteries were connected.
In this photo taken in 1905, two electric vehicles are visible: on the left is a bus: on the right is a taxi. Photo taken on Broadway in Times Square.
The history of electric taxi cars in the United States began with Electrobat from Electric Vehicle Co.
Taxi in 1897.
These taxis were charged in a special room.
Continuation:
Dawn and sunset of electric vehicles: the first half of the XX century
The whole series of articles:
Dawn of electric vehicles: XIX century.
Dawn and sunset of electric vehicles: the first half of the XX century.
Electric car strikes back: the second half of the XX century.
Revenge of an electric car: the beginning of the XXI century.
By the term electric vehicle is meant a car that uses electric energy from a chemical current source to drive the drive wheels. O.A. Stavrov
The first internal combustion engine, suitable for use, was designed by the French inventor of Belgian origin, Etienne Lenoir, in 1860. The power of this engine was 12 horsepower, it worked on a mixture of air and light gas with electric spark ignition. An electric motor appeared earlier: in 1841 a trolley was equipped with it. Even earlier, in 1828, the Hungarian Agios Jedlik used an electric motor for a tiny, skateboard-like car.
In 1888, a three-wheeled car was introduced in the United States. Ten lead-acid batteries manufactured by Electrical Accumulator Company weighed about forty kilograms. The maximum design speed was eight miles per hour. Engine power - 0.5 horsepower. It was rather a three-wheeled electric bike.
In 1859-1860, Gaston Plante invented the lead battery; in 1878, Camill Fore improved its design. Today, these batteries are used in automotive or motor vehicles as starter batteries.
Thomas Perker was responsible for the electrification of the London Underground. And he designed and built this electric car in 1884. In addition, he himself developed a battery for his vehicle.
In 1889, the first Russian double electric car appeared. It was created by engineer Ippolit Romanov. In this front-wheel drive vehicle, passengers were seated in front, and the driver was in the rear seat on the seat above them. The batteries located in the compartment behind the passenger compartment were lighter than their analogues, which allowed to reduce the weight of the car to 720 kg. Popular at that time French "Zhanto" weighed1440 kg. The maximum speed was 35 km / h, and the power reserve was a little more than 1 kilometer. At 1800 rpm, each of the engines produced 4.4 kW, which is equivalent to 5.984 horsepower.
The first electric car in Germany was built by engineer Andreas Flocken in 1888. In this photo - one of the German electric cars in 1904.
The first electric car speed record was set in France on December 18, 1898 on a Jentaud car, "charged" with alkaline batteries. The speed was 62.792 km / h. After 4 months, the record was broken by the electric car Le Jamais Contende - this time the speed exceeded a hundred and amounted to 105.264 km / h.
The power reserve and speed in the late XIX - early XX centuries for electric vehicles and cars with an internal combustion engine were approximately the same, but recharging the batteries was somewhat more difficult - you could not just plug the electric car into a power outlet and wait a few hours, you needed an AC to DC converter. For this, an electric motor operating from alternating current was used - it rotated the generator shaft, to which the batteries were connected.
In this photo taken in 1905, two electric vehicles are visible: on the left is a bus: on the right is a taxi. Photo taken on Broadway in Times Square.
The history of electric taxi cars in the United States began with Electrobat from Electric Vehicle Co.
Taxi in 1897.
These taxis were charged in a special room.
Continuation:
Dawn and sunset of electric vehicles: the first half of the XX century