Victorian electrical vehicles

[Sorontar]

Electrical vehicles may not be steam-powered, but they were innovative for the time, and quickly became an unconventional approach to transport.

https://www.drive.com.au/news/124-year-old-electric-porsche-restored-in-germany/

"An electric wooden buggy designed and built by Ferdinand Porsche more than 120 years ago has been restored for public display in Germany.
The 1898 Egger-Lohner C.2 Phaeton – also dubbed the 'Porsche P1' retrospectively, despite preceding the official Porsche marque by more than three decades – was penned by the prolific engineer when he was just 23 years old."

[Lazaras]

Wonder if anyone's tried making an authentic replica to do benchmarks.  I know it'll be slow by modern standards but it honestly looks fun.

[Miranda.T]

The speed might have been comparable to the petrol or steam cars of the era, but with no fancy lithium batteries there, just good old lead acid, I would imagine the range would be measured in the (low) 10s of miles.

Yours,
Miranda.

[Sorontar]

Bear in mind the rules of the day might have required someone walking in front of the vehicle with a flag.

[Lazaras]

Whyfor? Even without the noise of a motor it isn't exactly whisper quiet.

[Sorontar]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_flag_traffic_laws

"Red flag laws were laws in the United Kingdom and the United States enacted in the late 19th century, requiring drivers of early automobiles to take certain safety precautions, including waving a red flag in front of the vehicle as a warning."

[Lazaras]

I'm confused on how that would help anyone at all but...

Okie?

[von Corax]

I'm confused on how that would help anyone at all but...

Okie?

It would help the horse carriage makers by making it inconvenient to drive a horseless carriage...

[Lazaras]

Ahhh there it is... Industry trying to legislate its replacement out of existence.

[RJBowman]

102 mile per hour Baker Electric racer from 1902:


Article:
https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/this-car-went-100-mph-in-1902-and-it-was-electric/

Inner workings:

[RJBowman]

There's an image I'm trying to find that illustrates an odd feature of some of the early baker electrics. The early cars were based on a carriage design where passengers sat inside the carriage and faces each other while a driver sat out front, except that the outer driver has been eliminated so that driving is done from the back seat with the front seat passengers facing backward toward the driver.

I've seen an old advertisement showing a convertible version of this car, but I just went to look for it and couldn't find it. Can someone please link to it?

[gojim]

102 mile per hour Baker Electric racer from 1902:


Article:
https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/this-car-went-100-mph-in-1902-and-it-was-electric/

Inner workings:

Really impressive. Didn't know about that. Electric car with a speed of 102 miles per hour was demonstrated 120 years ago. So why are we still using gasoline-powered vehicles? Since it destroys the ecology of the planet, it's funny

[RJBowman]

Really impressive. Didn't know about that. Electric car with a speed of 102 miles per hour was demonstrated 120 years ago. So why are we still using gasoline-powered vehicles? Since it destroys the ecology of the planet, it's funny

It went up to 102 mph, but not for long. Lead acid storage batteries have a low capacity compared to what you need for long road trips.

[John Zybourne]

This is a bit of a tangent, but if I recall correctly nickel-iron batteries were originally developed for electric cars in the late 19th century. Much more durable than lead acid in that they essentially have unlimited discharge cycles. Unfortunately, they faded out because unlike lead-acid they don't work as well as a starter battery for petrol cars. Also, I love that in the 19th century, rechargeable batteries were called 'electrical accumulators'.

[von Corax]

This is a bit of a tangent, but if I recall correctly nickel-iron batteries were originally developed for electric cars in the late 19th century. Much more durable than lead acid in that they essentially have unlimited discharge cycles. Unfortunately, they faded out because unlike lead-acid they don't work as well as a starter battery for petrol cars. Also, I love that in the 19th century, rechargeable batteries were called 'electrical accumulators'.

You do recall correctly. As I understand it, there are nickel-iron batteries over a century old still in service.

[RJBowman]

I love that in the 19th century, rechargeable batteries were called 'electrical accumulators'.

Accumulator is a word that seems to have gotten a lot of use in engineering. It's the name of the part of a computer's processor where arithmetic computations are performed, and it's also the mechanical part of a juke box that keeps track of which records have been requested and need to be played.