The History of the Electric Car in Ten 'Firsts'

It might feel like the electric car is a relatively new phenomenon. But history shows us a different story. Did you know that before the gasoline car took off, EVs ruled the road? And they will again, very soon…

First Electric DC Motor — 1828

Hungarian experimenter Ányos Jedlik, a Benedictine priest, invented the first electric direct current (DC) motor. His design was remarkably future-proof: the DC motors of today still use the same three principal components — stator, rotator, and commutator.

First Electric Vehicle — 1832

Scottish inventor Robert Anderson designed a battery-powered carriage that could travel about 12 miles before the batteries needed replacing. Revolutionary? Absolutely. Practical? Not quite yet.

First Rechargeable Battery — 1859

Frenchman Gaston Planté invented the rechargeable lead-acid battery, which — in updated form — is still used in EVs today. A man of many discoveries, he also found a fossil of a previously unknown ostrich-like animal in 1855, which was subsequently named after him.

First Electric Public Transport — 1881

Thanks to Werner von Siemens, the city of Berlin became the first in the world to run electric trams — fed by overhead wires — through its streets.

First Electric Cars to Reach the U.S. — Around 1890

UK inventor Thomas Parker first rode an electric car in 1884. The technology soon crossed the Atlantic, introduced in the United States by William Morrison of Des Moines, Iowa.

First Electric Car to Reach 100 km/h — 1899

Built for speed and resembling a giant bullet, an electric car called Jamais Contente (French for "never content") broke the land speed record on April 29, 1899, reaching 105.88 km/h (65.79 mph).

First Hybrid Car — 1900

Did you know the first hybrid was a Porsche? At just 25 years old, Ferdinand Porsche designed the Semper Vivus (Latin for "always alive"), extending the electric car's range through the addition of an internal combustion engine.

First Clean Air Bill — 1966

In 1966, Congress introduced the first bills aimed at reducing air pollution through the use of EVs. Around the same time, gas prices soared and NASA sent a manned EV to the Moon — reigniting American interest in electric vehicles.

First Tesla — 2008

The Tesla Roadster was a first in many respects, paving the way for today's EV revolution. The world's first fully electric road-worthy sports car, it offered a range of 245 miles on a single charge and was the first EV of the modern era to truly rival gasoline-powered competitors on speed and performance.

First Million Milestone — 2015

By the end of 2015, one million pure electric cars and vans had been sold worldwide. By the first half of 2022, 4.1 million new EVs were sold globally in just six months. We've come a long way — and the next milestone may be 1 million U.S. EV chargers installed.