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Did you know that the very first car to break the 60 mph (100 km/h) wall was an electric vehicle?
It might sound strange, but this milestone was actually achieved by the “Jamais Contente” (which means “Never Satisfied”), hitting 65.79 mph (105.88 km/h) on the 29th of April 1899, in Achères, northern France. Piloted by the valiant “Red Devil”, Belgian Camille Jenatzy, two direct drive Postel-Vinay 25 kW motors (both running at 200 Volts/124 Amperes) powered the bullet shaped car made of partinium, for an output of about 68hp. Rear wheels were driven each by one of these two motors, which were over-volted just for the time necessary to hit the record speed.
The reason why Jenatzy built this car, the very first car to be specifically designed for a land speed record attempt, was because of two reasons: first, he wanted to prove his superiority towards Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat, who had beaten him three times already in his endeavour; secondly, because Laubat was driving for Jeantaud, which was Jenatzy’s rival company. The Belgian engineer, in fact, had started a manufacturing plant to produce carriages and trucks, in the, at the time, ever-growing electric vehicles market.
As a matter of fact, at the end of the XIX century there was a wild ongoing dispute about which technology was better suited for these newly born vehicles. Mainly three parties were involved: those voting for combustion engines, those rooting for electric drive, and the hard-core steam supporters. The "La France Automobile" magazine decided to promote some race events, in which speed of the participants was recorded on a 1km (0.6 mi) drag strip. Whoever ran fastest, was the winner. Whichever engine was quicker, had to be declared the best.
Surprisingly, the fastest and more diffused vehicles were actually electric. People liked them because they were much less noisy, did not have any smell as those associated with gasoline, and suffered zero vibrations. More on the plus side, there wear no gearboxes, as electric vehicles do not need shifting, and were far easier to start compared to combustion engines, which needed to be warmed up and to be started manually through a hand crank peeking out of the bottom of the radiator. In addition, combustion engines have a thermal efficiency of only about 27% on average, while electric drives can go as far as 90%. What this means is that of all the energy produced by a gasoline/diesel engine, only a quarter, roughly, pushes the car forward. The rest is all wasted.
In 1912, 38% of automobiles in the USA were electric driven, compared to the 22% diffusion of gasoline vehicles. Between 1897 and 1898, both Walter C. Bersey in London and Samuel's “Electric Carriage and Wagon Company” in New York even started running a fleet of electric cabs. These were infamously renamed as "Hummingbirds" due to the peculiar humming noise they made (which is still today considered the main downside of this technology).
Unfortunately for electric cars, the ease of operation and the lack of sound typical of these cars stigmatized them as “for women” (again, a trend emerging in our society too), instead of being seen as actual bonuses, especially in urban traffic. Moreover, the increasing distances that cars in general needed to cover were much above the expectations of these primitive vehicles, while at the same time the discovery of many oil fields made gasoline cars more competitive on the market. At the end of the 1920es, the electric vehicle market was extinguished and all development abandoned.
Nowadays, this technology seems to be the protagonist of a mighty comeback. Tesla is about to produce both cars and trucks equipped with electric motors, boasting for both top performances, quick recharging times and long lasting distances on a single charge. It even convinced FIA to run a dedicated championship for electric GTs, the Electric Production Car Series, starting later this year. Rimac is already an established competitor in the field. Then we have Audi, BMW, Volkswagen, Porsche, Bugatti, Maserati, Pagani and Alfa Romeo, all planning out for the next four years new electric models, or already releasing ‘green vehicles’ on the market by now. This without taking in consideration many more brands, or even motorcycle companies like Cagiva, Harley Davidson and Royal Enfield, that are also moving to electric powertrains. The motorsport too is counting more and more series switching in the near future to the ‘eco-friendly’ alternative, while many new like Formula-E or Moto-E are specifically designed from the ground up to use these engines.
Even classic cars are oftentimes seeing their motors switched to electric drives. This because of preservations of their original units, which many times have no longer replacement parts or specialists available to fix them (the carb wizards breed is going towards extinction, and some companies are now offering specialised training courses to have the new generations learn this incredibly hard technique and precise discipline), and because of Emission Zones limitations. Many cities are in fact imposing restrictions to the type of vehicles allowed in their downtown zones, and classic cars are obviously out of the minimum requirements. Exceptions can be made, to models acknowledged as historically relevant by local sanctioning bodies, but these might be retracted at some point in the future.
- The 'E-type Zero' used by Prince Harry at his recent wedding is based on a 1968 Series 1½ E-type
It looks like the combustion engine is facing hard times, and that is not easy to accept. It might have all the faults and flaws of the world, but for a petrolhead, there's nothing like it. It would be a shame to be forced to use these cars only in the weekend, in some remote country road, away from judging eyes, and surely, they will get expensive to maintain as such.
At the same time, I cannot hide my excitement towards innovation. I have always liked everything that is pure – state of the art – technology, pushing our boundaries. I love anything that shows how far we got, how complex things we, as humans, are able to achieve and build for a better future. Electric drives are just the latest step, and I love them not for what they are (even though, they can look very cool at times), but for what they represent from a human standpoint. I hope I will be able to see where this will all lead, how society and humanity will be shaped by this positive change.
However, as we have seen, at the beginning of the last century it looked as well like electric vehicles were the way to go, save being supplanted instead by combustion engines. Will this happen again? Will another kind of drive take the place of electric vehicles this time too?
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What do you think? Which changes this technology might bring in our lives? Are you excited or disheartened by what it means for the future?
Let us know in the comments!
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