History of Electric Car

Recently, electric cars have become a necessity in today's society. In an effort to reduce the rate of pollution and the impact of climate change due to carbon emissions, countries in the world today are moving quickly to find solutions to these problems. Everything is now striving to be more environmentally friendly, nature-friendly and efficient. Starting from the use of new renewable energy, switching from the use of fossil fuel-based vehicles to electricity-based, plastic bag diet, beef consumption diet, preventing forest fires, and so on. Of all these things, the current trend of using electric cars is very sexy to follow its development.

Indonesia with the capital city of Jakarta was once named the most polluting city in the world. For this reason, the government is currently working hard to shift public transportation modes from oil and gas to electricity. Transjakarta, for example, now operates in the center of the national capital, many of which are electric. Many government official cars have also begun to be converted to electric-based. All of this is done as an effort to reduce pollution that results in global climate change and has a systemic impact on the quality of daily life.

Source: byd.com

Electric cars, no matter what form they take, are the vehicles of the future for mankind. In the future, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly vehicle models will be needed. So many automotive companies in the world are currently racing to mass produce electric cars as a result of the technological race and the demands of the times. For example, there is Tesla from the United States, there is FF 91 from China, and so on. The public now has a variety of electric car choices, which one do you want to choose? Please feel free. Well, the proliferation of electric cars lately turns out to be a continuation of the previous era, namely when the era of the first electric car launched in the 19th century. So, electric cars that use batteries as charging materials and store power actually existed two centuries ago. How about the story of electric cars at that time?

History records that the first electric car was invented by an American inventor named Robert Anderson in 1832. At that time, he succeeded in making a three-wheeled car powered by an electric battery. This is the first forerunner of the birth of an electric car. In its development, the electric car was then developed by William Morrison2 at the end of the 19th century. He succeeded in making a larger electric car because it could accommodate up to six passengers. It is said that the electric car invented by Morrison was used as a taxi vehicle by taxi drivers at that time. Furthermore, electric vehicle cars experienced significant developments. In 1898 a new inventor named Ferdinand Porsche succeeded in finding a hybrid type car, aka a mixture of electric and gasoline cars.

The heyday of electric cars slowly began to fade along with the discovery of the model T gasoline car by Henry Ford in 1908. The car invented by Henry Ford is considered very affordable and economical. The price was around 650 USD in 1912. In the same year, the price of an electric car was around 1,750 USD. This condition makes electric cars then lose prestige so that the people of the United States switch to using gasoline cars.

Electric cars really lost prestige in the United States in 1935 due to the US government's policy of improving the road system connecting cities in America where many US citizens at that time wanted to get out of the city and travel efficiently. The existence of gasoline cars that are considered more efficient is certainly needed to meet these needs. Not to mention the discovery of crude oil in Texas which made gas cheap and affordable for rural communities in the United States. Inevitably, gasoline filling stations sprung up all over the country. The fact is that during this time, very few Americans outside the cities had electric cars, so the choice to use gasoline cars made sense. This is the reason why electric cars have declined among the people of the United States.

The story of electric cars does not stop here, a few decades later, the need for electricity in the United States began to stretch when world oil prices rose due to the oil embargo by oil-producing countries in 1973 which then made it difficult to operate gasoline cars. Therefore, the US Congress then passed the 1976 Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development and Demonstration Act to support research and development of electric and hybrid vehicles. As a result, many automotive companies then developed vehicles made from alternatives such as electric cars. For example, General Motor developed a prototype of an urban electric car and American Motor Company made an electric jeep. The story of electric cars does not stop here, a few decades later, the need for electricity in the United States began to stretch when world oil prices rose due to the oil embargo by oil-producing countries in 1973 which then made it difficult to operate gasoline cars. Therefore, the US Congress then passed the 1976 Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development and Demonstration Act to support research and development of electric and hybrid vehicles. As a result, many automotive companies then developed vehicles made from alternatives such as electric cars. For example, General Motor developed a prototype of an urban electric car and American Motor Company made an electric jeep.

Unfortunately, the prestige of electric cars in the next twenty years declined again until in 1990, the United States passed the Clean Air Act Amendments and passed the Energy Policy Act in 1992 as well as the issuance of New Transportation Emissions Regulations by the California Air Resources Board. These regulations were designed to reinvigorate the US public's interest in electric vehicles. As a result, many car manufacturers in the US modified their vehicles to be electric-based and have speeds close to those of gasoline cars. Over the next few years, the passion for electric cars in the US returned to mediocrity.

The turning point of the rise of electric cars met its best momentum when the Toyota Prius was released in 1997 in Japan. It became the world's first mass-produced hybrid electric car. Furthermore, in 2000 the Toyota Prius was released worldwide. Using nickel metal hydride batteries, this hybrid electric car sold well in the market. The next momentum that made electric cars rise to prominence was the birth of a startup company called Tesla Motor.

Elon Musk's Silicon Valley-based company announced in 2006 that it would produce a luxury electric sports car capable of traveling over 200 miles on a single battery charge. In a relatively short time, Tesla was able to attract market interest and became the largest electric car company in the world and exists today. The phenomenon of electric cars today shows that from now until the next century, electric cars will be a necessity for the world community. Apart from being able to reduce dependence on fossil oil by 30 to 60 percent, electric cars can also play a significant role in efforts to reduce pollution rates by up to 20 percent.