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In 1897, New York decided to make their taxi fleet electric through cars created by the Electric Carriage and Wagon Company of Philadelphia. Many cities in Europe and the United States began using electric vehicles as a form of public transit (Figure 1). By 1898, land speed records of over 68 mph were set by electric cars. Electric cars were still at this stage seen as likely dominating the increasingly growing car market. By 1900, about 30 percent of all cars were electric.
Already in 1899, however, people realised that gasoline gave a longer range. Hybrid vehicles began to be created to combine the benefits of electric cars with gasoline powered vehicles. Nevertheless, by this point, journeys in vehicles were usually short distances and trains still typically carried people over longer distances. Oil was exploited but not widely distributed yet. This gave the electric car an advantage in costs and generally electric cars were easier to operate than their gasoline cousins, requiring no starting crank and constant gear shifting. <ref>For more on the growth and expansion of electric cars in the late 1800s and early 1900s, see: Anderson, C. D., & Anderson, J. (2010). <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0048ELGX4/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0048ELGX4&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=84f22c0e52565f1addd0f8273f01c402 Electric and hybrid cars: a history ] (2nd ed)</i>. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland, pg. 111 </ref>
====Later Developments====
====Summary====
Early cars were more easily operated as electric vehicles, as many 19th century automobiles were cumbersome, dirty, noisy, and less preferred by consumers. That changed by the 1910s, resulting in the near death of electric vehicles. When research once again picked up in the 1970s, electric cars were not much better in range than their 1890s-1900s peers. It was only since the 1990s, and particularly the effect of the Prius, that began to increase interest in electric vehicles and those with alternative fuels. Today, some countries in Europe have begun to introduce eventual bans on all gasoline vehicles at a future date. This might now be a major lifeline given to more rapid development of electric vehicles.
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[[Category:Wikis]] [[Category:History of Science and Technology]]
