3 ms·

There was another factor at play here. Standard Oil. This was still the age of the 'robber barons' and Standard Oil ruthlessly crushed any competition, both ele

There was another factor at play here. Standard Oil. This was still the age of the 'robber barons' and Standard Oil ruthlessly crushed any competition, both electric vehicles and alternative fuel sources such as alcohol based fuels. Ford at the time was actually a subsidiary of Standard Oil (Henry Ford and Rockefeller were also personal friends) which resulted in the gasoline powered Ford Model-T, the most successful mass produced car of the era. Smaller car manufactures, seeing the success of Ford and possibly to not be targeted by Standard Oil themselves, fell in line and abandoned electric vehicles and alcohol based fuels. Then Standard Oil formed an alliance with General Motors and Firestone. The group began buying out electric tram companies and dismantling them to push sales to GM's gasoline powered buses. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.601.5499 http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.601....

aurizon 6y ago
Yes, the robber barons, as originated in the UK and the rape of their colonies = the American Revolution, followed by India, Malaya etc., and the Great Game. In time they fell, now they emerge under as copyright empires, Disney etc. It is true that electric vehicles would be far ahead by now without the IC subsidies, but, additionally, Lead Acid held them back. Nickel-Cadmium was later and better, but it took the Lithium era to really bring them back to life.