Why Electric Cars Failed 100 Years Ago

[Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] show then I'm sure you will be pleased as much to attend one of our most presented Live Events the next one is taking place in a rather Charming Dutch city of damn on the 24th 25th and 26th of November so don't forget to ask your manservant to get your tickets Bronto Turtle pip [Applause] [Music] right then Bob look at that what have we got today and why have we got it well here there's a label that gives us a clue it says Waverly 1901 yeah that is Bonkers that this car is what 122 years old it's 122 year old electric car this is no conversion retrofit no this is an electric car from 1901. it's a Waverly how did that no no me neither right I don't think they're really about no anymore it is a fairly bizarre Contraption it's got no steering wheel now it's got regen braking which is my favorite fact about it and it's just an absolutely beautiful completely unrestored original 1901 electric car so I think what we should do today is have a little poking a prod around it yeah and then they can let us we can drive it and it's road legal you can go on a road with it right we can go on the Rover there I'm just raving about that the motor yeah it's not a replacement motor that's not a rebuilt map that is the original electric motor from 1901. it still works so Bobby let me hit you with some facts and figures okay what we have here to be specific is a 1901 Waverly electric model 22. I wondered if it was the model 22 Road Wagon what do you mean you wondered if it was the model 22. I had no idea the model 22 Road Wagon that's actually a really cool name they should do that they should reintroduce it this vehicle was built from 1901 to 1905 it cost 925 when new wow that's quite a lot of money I've run the numbers we've had to guess what that would be with modern inflation twenty five thousand dollars I don't know it's about 28.5 Grand it's a Chevy bolts it is essentially yeah bargain entry level affordable of course 1901 that's what 15 years after Carl Ben's invented the car we are talking Genesis here yeah it is absolutely it is a bit mind-boggling to think there are electric cars right from the go because that first ever car that Carl Benz created that weird three-wheeler yeah that was a one-cylinder petrol car yeah but there were EVS from the absolute beginning as well as Steam cars weren't there all three were sort of in the running yeah dominant one well and also the the huge difference which I never thought of until I read about it was that these were so easy to to get going so a steam car I've driven a steam car terrifying to get that thing going for a start you've got to light the the heater which was run on kerosene and that would burn for like two hours before you could drive to get the to get up the head of steam combustion cars you you started with a crank handle yeah yeah what's funny about early electric cars is all the advertising is aimed at the female customer these are the quiet elegant feminine method of Transport whereas men like to crank and get oily hands yeah me call me effeminate I think we're both very metrosexual well we're Modern Men should we all walk around yeah well it won't take long because as you say it's sort of a horse and car it's without the car where should we begin those Wheels like they're off a cannon to me yeah they do look they do and they are wooden yeah they're wooden spokes aren't they wooden wooden Wheels with pneumatic tires yes also big wheels all the rage and modern car design yeah yeah 22-inch Wheels you want your big wheels how about a 30. I want 30s no it's no less there's not something I'm not I don't know an enormous about shock absorber technology but I can see when it's not there yeah and there's none on here yeah we've got leaf springs yeah which is I mean this is horse and cart stuff but look yeah there is yeah there's a bit of there's a bit of give there better than nothing I would say steering mechanism again no steering wheel the first steering wheel appear on a car I think in the late 1890s so right one had been fitted to the car before but this is I mean it's just deemed a much better idea people would be familiar with this from sort of steering an outboard motor on a boat right it works I suppose yeah no power steering mind you no actually because the tires are so skinny that's quite light it is quite easy to do and I'm fascinated oh oh my goodness how did you do that that's brilliant to warn people because it's an electric vehicle and it's a silent killer I saw the headline in the Daily Mail by the way this is completely unrestorable this is this is original the original original that's original cowhide this is original horse hair wow looking out of the seats and then should we do inside next let's the interior is I'm fascinated by this because I it's got vaults and amperes this is unbelievable so no Speedo no but we've got a dial for our vaults and our amps and from those I guess you calculate how much power you're using but this is the most unbelievable thing about this if you look at this amp meter on the right hand side look this direction is for when it's running and then it winds backwards when it's charging when the regen breaks out the door in your Tesla yeah that shows when you're accelerating when you're regenerating generating it's that it's got the same thing it's from 1901 wow so just running through the controls tiller for steering this handle here this is our acceleration you've got slow bit less slow still really quite slow and then and then how did you do reach oh you just pull it back right and you're regenerating I mean we'll find out in a moment just how strong I don't think we're talking one pedal driving here I mean there's there's no pedal for accelerating I know those pedals there sort of randomly coming through the floor are they brakes these are both brakes and one of them is to break the motor and then the seconds are these Hub brakes which are just fitted to the wheel here so your spot for Choice really as far as slowing it down I'm sure those are very effective yeah there's no brakes on the front that's great here's another little touch internal lighting you know how you've got ambient light oh that makes a big difference in a car so give nice mood in the evening well check this out if you want to see your volts at night look you press this button with your foot look oh my goodness and it points onto that it's unbelievable for night driving imagine night driving in this because I like the headlights I mean those are going to be dazzling right if you see the bulb yeah want to see these full beams in action oh yeah yeah dazzling yeah that is intense so you'd be able to see four or five inches ahead of you you might just about be able to find the square step to get in with those yeah it's not I can't imagine doing a long night drive in it so I want to see where the software is yeah let's say you need to change your oil otherwise because it doesn't happen there's no screen washing for your windscreen wipers this and that goes back yeah this is it's a very old thing there's a very careful oh my God that's amazing wow look at that all right tell me what I'm looking at here Bobby well that's a good question uh connectors obviously some form of connectors oh I see I think I'm getting it so the thing at the top there it'll it'll just increase the amount of power that's going through by connecting more of the connectors so those all lead down to the motor from the batteries I'm guessing this looking at it but if you move that lever oh yeah there's different connectors going in oh yeah oh my God that is amazing wow that literally is more bits of metal connecting to more power wow because what's so weird about modern electric cars is all this stuff is software it's code it's got nothing to do it's not mechanical and then to see a kind of mechanical version literally big things that go that's on off and it's a mechanical twisting thing is so kind of visceral isn't it yeah good good luck giving that an over-the-air update so what's in the back then is that right is that the propaganda this is the key as you can see very high tech so that's that's the security no one could ever replicate no this key they were very special right here goes I'll hold the keyboard thank you very much OEM reflectors there we go all right yep let's see closer so so those are modern batteries but they're in but that's where they would have been whatever they were originally that's where they would have been so these are from a golf buggy I think and they're lead acid so it's not exactly Cutting Edge Tech this same sort of stuff you had in a g whiz 20 years ago obviously batteries are one thing that are not going to last 122 years physically 122 year old batteries notice he's got a little bag of tools there there's like loads of storage space the cargo space it doesn't get hot obviously no so you can there's no oil being sprayed around because I mean what I do know that in for instance in New York around the time this was would be running there were two battery swapping stations in in New York one was in SoHo one was in Harlem and electric taxes would drive in and they had a system where they just slide out the battery tray it was on a tray this is 19 like 1903 this was happening they'd slide it out and they'd slide in a Charged one and it took them something like 35 seconds and then the taxi had another 60 miles of range and it was driving around New York all the time there was I've got to remember so if I remember because that was from the same book 680 taxes on the roads in Manhattan they were all electric all of them and they the reason I think in 1908 they tried a petrol one but they were worried it was going to frighten the horses because still most transport was horsepower drawn and the electric cars obviously were quiet and then the the petrol one backfired so badly and horses freaked out and there was all sorts of trouble so it was banned so until a few years later when they you know well I mean that's the thing that we've got to remember is at this time a combustion engine this was not you would not say this was reliable or suitable and it didn't have much range it was a prop there's loads of problems with it but so there was with combustion cars oh yeah loads of problems with it they were breaking down they were filthy they'd explode the petrol was in a glass jar on the that was strapped at the back of the where the passenger seats with with a leather strap and you had to fill it was it called a demi-jon and you it would be literally like a water dispenser yeah and you turn that upside down no that's a petrol that's how they did it that's a that's called the bomb yeah it is so they were really difficult they constantly broke down so there was really debatable about what was going to happen well I think we should delve into why petrol won in the first place and why cars like this didn't really survive for very long but before we do that Robert I can't quite believe I'm going to say this should we go for a drive I think we should oh oh she goes oh my goodness [Music] it's not like being in a caravan where everyone behind you is furious yeah people oh my goodness [Music] oh look at you what's going on here that lady just got went off-road heckled us and then drove past oh Bobby this is quite a deal it is very it's very idyllic I'm just uh do that again do that let me just see we need to get going okay regen look at that all reverse and pigs oh fantastic I'll blame it there's an uphill coming up there yeah it's full this is absolutely maximum power geez I'm scared I want to sort of want to get out to see the difference in speed I'm going to do it ready oh you've got quicker no this is undignified if that was a lady if I was a lady of reputation I'd be very upset about this I'll slow right down oh sorry good luck oh oh my God the acceleration is devastating yeah Mike said it will slow down to like two miles an hour going up a hill so he's obviously more familiar with it yeah and that's that's with one human in the in the garage really yeah around the corner visibility oh there is something oh keep going all right we're all right we're all right sorry that was close Mike just Mike that was a pretend I pretended that that was acting that wasn't real that was Red Dwarf quality acting visibility fantastic that's an incredible visibility for mirrors very well ventilated uh not getting any steam I'll tell you what actually killing aside quite comfortable it is surprisingly comfortable those leaves the rain is actually quite smooth isn't it that is [Music] we might get up to a very high speed down here start braking camera car says start braking why have they said that then look at that is regen and just think 18 miles per hour more on this hill yeah 60 miles of range they reckon the original batteries that's amazing back then because I mean to be honest my Nissan Leaf when that was new that was its realistic safe range you wouldn't worry about range up to 60 miles after that you're getting tense it did do more than that but reliably where you don't have to worry about it was 60 miles so that was 120 years later the first generation I mean it is incredible isn't it so fun stat for you Bobby oh yeah in 1900 the year before this car was made in the US about 1700 steam-powered cars manufactured about 1600 electric cars less than a thousand petrol cars so this Tech and steam they were winning initially and then in 1908 Ford Model T comes along is that when is that when that started 1908 yeah and I think it cost about 900 bucks to begin with but by the 1930s they got the price down to some 260 dollars because again mass production now what I'm wondering is if Henry Ford had just decided to go with electric instead of petrol would we have all been driving electric cars all along or is that oversimplifying I think it probably is a lot to do with batteries because that's what's caused the Resurgence of electric cars if you like you know they did it was a dead technology for like 100 years more or less and it was the Advent of rechargeable energy dense lithium-ion technology that's kind of what allowed the electric cars we now drive to become plausible because you know you could put lead acid batteries in a VW id5 id4 and it would work and you could charge it again and it would but it would it's not going to happen you know when you need a ton and a half of batteries yeah I think electric cars like this were really popular in the first place because there weren't many roads and what roads there were in cities once we started making highways people started to want to go further and all of a sudden 18 miles an hour and limited range is a bit of a deal breaker yeah and I think I think it's a combination of that and the starter motor I think the starter motor was critical because petrol engines was a petrol and steam engines were so difficult to get going that that was a real challenge for anybody and you can say oh well you know women preferred electric cars well yeah but men preferred electric cars because starting a petrol car was really really hard you know people got gouged yeah they did they died yeah it was really shocking I think it's a shame about steam yeah I like to think steam was sort of like the hydrogen of the early 20th century we were like it's going to catch on just you it's going to be huge next year's the year for Steam on the steam cars [Music] hi Bobby profound insightful concluding thoughts on this glorious Contraption I think it is fantastic it's been such a joy and a privilege to drive it I'm very glad that technology has advanced a bit since 1901. yeah things that I didn't realize I took for granted include steering wheel yeah windscreen windscreen uh damping damping these are good things those are all good things uh power assisted brakes brakes that strikes that stop you those are brilliant who came out with that idea of brakes that actually stopped you also wheels that stay on I don't know if you've noticed it we're leaking quite a lot of oil back here it's really joined on slightly less attached than it did what a glorious thing and it's it is amazing when you think this is 100 and 122 years old or something like that and it's still and that Mo I just the motor that really blows me away because all those sort of you know I've heard Engineers talk about electric motors last forever well here's Absolute Concrete proof that they do there's nothing wrong with that motor and likewise it kind of makes me feel warm and gooey to understand that electric cars have been a good idea for a long time it's just only now are we able to execute it we have the technology to really do it properly that's kind of cool yeah so I think we've got to sign off in the appropriate way for the period right if you don't mind Jack I I need to be on screen for this on my own I think well I mean you know you've got a t-shirt on that seems unnecessary [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Fully Charged Show

Views: 444,782

Keywords: electric car youtube channel, renewable energy youtube, renewable energy electric vehicles, latest news on renewable energy, crowd funded youtube, kryten, fully charged show live, ev show, fully charged show, robert llewellyn, electric cars, fully charged

Id: Xzk6acQO-KQ

Length: 18min 21sec (1101 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 05 2023