Explore a gallery of electric vehicles from before 1920

Electric vehicles have been around since the 19th century

The first EVs ran on rechargeable lead-acid batteries, which could travel 60 to 80 miles on a single charge. Women preferred these vehicles, which were quieter, less smelly, and did not require turning a hand crank to start the engine.

Nearly 40% of American cars were electric in 1899

They were most common in cities, where battery swap stations allowed drivers to "refuel" their vehicles reliably. Innovations in combustion engines caused electric cars to lose ground until environmental policies and advances in battery technology revitalized interest.

High fuel prices and fuel shortages revived dormant interest in EVs

Electric vehicles, in the form of motorized carriages, predate the invention of the gas-powered automobile by over 40 years. The latter's affordability made it more popular until technological advances made EVs more viable to consumers in the early 2000s.

A pair of engineers began Tesla to prove the viability of electric vehicles

Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning sought to design a high-end electric sports car for environmentally motivated, affluent buyers. The Tesla Roadster would be the first highway-legal car to use lithium-ion batteries.

Watch a timeline of the history of electricity, from observations of static electricity in antiquity to the War of the Currents—a rivalry to establish the ideal system for electric grids.

Watch someone drive a Model T Ford, which feels like driving 'a tractor with the soul of a sewing machine'—and learn how to operate one.

Tesla's alternating current power's most of the world's electric grids

In 1879, Thomas Edison’s light bulb relied on direct current, but such currents can't efficiently transmit power over long distances. Nikola Tesla introduced alternating current, which feature far fewer energy loses. Despite Edison’s attempts to discredit AC, Tesla proved its efficiency by lighting the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

Washington DC's streetcar network built the modern American suburb

Washington's first electric streetcar line launched in 1888, and real estate developers quickly built lines to open new neighborhoods. A 35-minute ride from Chevy Chase, Maryland, to downtown Washington transformed farmland into a suburb.

Tesla's first successful AC prototype used a metal shoe polish tin for a rotor

After leaving his position working with Thomas Edison, Tesla partnered with George Westinghouse to promote alternating current systems as a more viable, scalable solution to electricity transmission.

Thomas Edison created the first strand of electric Christmas lights in 1880

Edison strung electric bulbs outside his laboratory in 1880, and his business partner Edward H. Johnson first wrapped a tree in lights in 1882. It wasn’t until the lights were commercialized in 1917 that they became common in household Christmas decorations.

While gas-powered engines typically have 2,000 moving parts, electric vehicles have about 20.

Explore the human and environmental resources needed to make an electric vehicle

The minerals needed to build batteries for electric vehicles are expensive and often take a human toll paid by the communities where they are mined. This interactive article details what minerals make up an electric vehicle battery, where they come from, and dangers posed by the mining process.

Explore a timeline of Tesla through 2025

Initially called Tesla Motors, the company was renamed Tesla Inc. in February 2017. Its Model Y became the world's bestselling EV worldwide by the end of 2023, overtaking the Model 3's title from 2020.

Learn about the relationship between Thomas Edison and Henry Ford

Despite their 16-year age difference, legendary inventor Thomas Edison and Henry Ford developed a close relationship after meeting at a convention in New York. The two—alongside environmentalist John Burroughs and Harvey Firestone, the founder of Firestone Tire—were known as the "Four Vagabonds" and were famous for their long roadtrips, which were often highly publicized.

View the 18 vehicles that broke the land speed record

The battery-powered "La Jamais Contente" was the first car to exceed 100 kilometers (62.1 miles) per hour, achieving the feat in 1899. By 1997, advancements in aerodynamic understanding and engineering led to the Thrust Supersonic Car, a jet-powered vehicle that reached a speed of 1,223.6 kilometers (760.3 miles) per hour.

The average electric vehicle motor has about 20 moving parts

The simpler design significantly reduces the energy lost to heat compared to the approximately 2,000 parts in a gas-powered car. Pollution is also lower, though an EV's emission profile is only as clean as the electric utility it's plugged into.

One of Henry Ford's early vehicle prototypes broke an all-time speed record and got him the money to start Ford Motor Company

In 1904, Henry Ford raced the "999" across a frozen lake and reached an average speed of more than 90 miles per hour, beating the then-record for fastest land speed. Ford's success attracted the eyes of the earliest investors in the Henry Ford Company, Ford's company before he started Ford Motor Company.

Thomas Edison publicly executed animals with AC to convince the public of its dangers

J.P. Morgan first backed Thomas Edison's direct current system, seeing electricity's potential to usurp John D. Rockefeller's kerosene empire. Despite the investments and smear campaign against alternating current, alternating current ultimately won public support after lighting the 1893 World's Fair, after which Morgan would fund Tesla's wireless transmission tower.

Read a complete history of urban mass transit in the United States

Explore the rise and fall of American mass transit, from the horse-drawn omnibus era through the streetcar age to the automobile's dominance. In the 1920s, streetcars carried 12 to 13 billion riders per year. By 1963, that number had shrunken to 300,000.

Nikola Tesla embraced showmanship when promoting ideas ahead of their time

He once electrified himself during a live demonstration to illustrate the safety and power of alternating current, and his presentations often featured arcing coils, glowing lights, and bold claims about a future of wireless power.

Exploring World War I technology on the battlefield

Industrialization brought massive changes to warfare during the Great War. Newly-invented killing machines begat novel defense mechanisms, which, in turn spurred the development of even deadlier technologies. Nearly every aspect of what we would consider modern warfare debuted on World War I battlefields. Starting with soldiers on horseback carrying lances and ending in poison gas, machine guns, and aerial battles, this gallery shows the first tools of modern warfare.

Tesla open-sourced all its patents to speed up industry adoption of electric vehicles

The company employed a disruptive strategy to transform the transportation market, but early struggles, including leadership shifts and near bankruptcy in 2008, threatened its efforts to bring electric vehicles to the mainstream.

Henry Ford pioneered the first moving assembly line, building on earlier iterations of the manufacturing method

Although cars existed before the Model T, manufacturing them required a group of highly specialized mechanics. The Model T was so affordable in large part because of the moving assembly line, which cut down the total manufacturing time of the car and replaced specialized workers with general laborers who performed repetitive tasks.

Tesla's production of a high-performance electric vehicle revived the EV industry

The Model 3 shifted public perception by showing that EVs could be fast and desirable, and built at scale. However, at one point, Tesla built an entirely manual production line in a tent outside its main factory to keep up with demand.

As of January 2025, Tesla is the second best-selling EV company in the world

Chinese automaker BYD saw nearly three times as many registrations of electric vehicles as Tesla through the sales of its plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles. Fellow Chinese competitor Geely sold 12.7% of all BEVs worldwide, surpassing Tesla's 12.4% share during the same period.

Before electric lights, Christmas trees were lit with real candles

The practice of lighting Christmas trees with electricity didn’t begin until the late 1800s. Before that, families used wax candles on branches—a dangerous tradition that originated in 16th-century Germany.

As of 2025, most EV batteries retain 95% or more of their range after three years

Data from over 30,000 electric vehicles shows that their batteries are lasting much longer than initially projected, which researchers suggest is due to improved battery management systems and real-world use often being less rigorous than high-performance testing. Cars with 150,000 miles or more that have not had a battery replacement retain at least 83% of their original range.

Nikola Tesla was born in modern-day Croatia and moved to the US in 1884

His interest in electricity came from his mother, who invented small household appliances during Tesla's upbringing. Upon arriving in America, he began working for and improving upon the electrical inventions made in Thomas Edison's lab.

Despite electric usage concerns, EV charging accounts for less than 1% of grid load

Other popular myths about EVs include battery failure concerns—failure rates are less than 1% on newer models—and that there are no places to charge cars, though both at-home outlets and more than 77,000 stations on the road are available.

A collective effort from multiple scientists and inventors led to the light bulb

While Thomas Edison's thin carbon filament design made light bulbs commercially viable, prior contributions, such as Joseph Swan's development of the first successful incandescent filament electric lamp, made its eventual invention possible.

A dispute about the origin of twitching frog legs led to the invention of the first battery

Experiments by Luigi Galvani on exposed frog leg nerves showed activity when they were hung from iron railings and brass hooks, suggesting the existence of "animal electricity" that discharged when connected to metals. Alessandro Volta's voltaic pile, which stacked metals with an inorganic electrolyte, showed that electricity originates from chemical reactions.

Take a drone tour of a Tesla factory

The first of Tesla's large-scale European manufacturing plants for its electric vehicles was opened in Berlin in 2022. It—along with other facilities in Nevada, New York, Texas, and Shanghai—collectively manufactures solar panels, batteries, and other energy collection and storage products.

Battery and plug-in hybrid EVs can operate with zero tailpipe emissions

Battery electric vehicles only run on electricity, while plug-in hybrids incorporate a small internal combustion engine that recharges the battery or directly powers the wheels to improve driving range. Fuel cell electric vehicles convert hydrogen gas fuel into electricity.

Niagara power helped electrify early New York City

Tesla's AC system at Niagara Falls was so successful that electricity generated there lit up Broadway theaters and powered NYC's subway system in the early 1900s.

See a gallery of the early years of CES

This gallery showcases rare photos from the early decades of CES, featuring early personal computers and the first handheld cassette players. See how the world’s biggest tech show began and grew.

Named after Nikola Tesla, who pioneered alternating current power systems, the Tesla coil was the first device to wirelessly transmit electricity.

Audi spent over three years developing engine sounds for its electric vehicles

Unlike the sounds made by combustion engines in gas-powered vehicles, electric cars produce no motor sounds. The company's acoustics team worked with composer Rudolf Helpmier to craft an electric-inspired revving sound for its R8 e-tron supercar.

Charging an EV depends on power source, charger type and battery size

It takes less time to charge an electric vehicle's battery for Level 3 chargers, which can deliver 80% capacity in as little as 30 minutes. Level 1 chargers can take days. Larger vehicles possess larger batteries that increase charging time, despite often having less range.

By designing a $35,000 car, Tesla sought to bring EVs into the mainstream

Despite production delays, factory struggles, and skepticism from established carmakers, Tesla reached its goal of making 5,000 Model 3s per week. This achievement marked a turning point, proving that electric vehicles could be scalable to meet increasing demand.

US EV sales grew from 1.4 million vehicles in 2023, to 1.7 million in 2024

California, Florida and Texas have the highest number of electric vehicle registrations in the US, while Mississippi, North Dakota and West Virginia have the lowest. Charging station infrastructure, high costs, and range anxiety contribute to lower adoption rates.

The first rooftop solar panels were installed in 1883

In 1883, New York inventor Charles Fritts created the first solar cell by coating selenium with a thin layer of gold. The cell achieved energy conversion rates of 1 to 2% compared to the 15 to 20% of modern photovoltaics.

Explore a map of every charging station in the US and Canada

An electric vehicle owner's main fear running out of power before getting to their final destination. Using this interactive, users may identify stations and their charger type to map fuel corridors for EV road trips.

Sales of Airstreams, the sleek silver RVs, surged during the American postwar road trip boom as the brand pitched tourism as a lifestyle.

Benjamin Franklin described a series of static electricity storage jars as 'batteries'

Discovered over 50 years before the first electrochemical cell was invented, Leyden jars stored electric charge between the metals inside and outside a liquid-filled container. Franklin was the first to use the term "battery" in an electrical sense, though his multiple-jar device—lacking chemical reactions—was actually a series of capacitors.

The first US patent for a roller coaster was issued in January 1884

Despite their Russian origins, roller coasters are often associated with the US. This is in part thanks to a businessman and inventor named LaMarcus Thompson, who revolutionized the amusement industry in the US beginning with the Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway at Coney Island. He is now known as the "father of the American roller coaster."

The history of the North American power grid, which is composed of five major grids

Thomas Edison's Pearl Street Station was the first US commercial power plant, burning coal to power lamps for some Manhattan residents. Over time, local power plants would be bought out by larger ones, forming interconnected systems spanning multiple states. Today, the Eastern Interconnection and Western Interconnection are the largest of these systems.

The Volkswagen bus returns to the US market after 20 years

Volkswagen will start selling battery-powered versions of its VW bus in North America from 2024 onwards, a reintroduction of the iconic vehicle after a roughly two decade-long hiatus. See the revamped bus here.

The first American roller coaster was built at Coney Island

LaMarcus Thompson was an inventor and businessman who developed the first US amusement park ride in the 19th century and sparked a booming business. Customers spent a nickel to coast on wheeled benches over gentle hills, leaving Thompson with around $600 per day in profits.

Tesla's lack of business savvy and inability to commercialize led to his obscurity

For decades, despite pioneering technologies for large-scale electrical systems and telecommunications, Nikola Tesla had been forgotten to history. Rather than monetizing his work and becoming more well known, his inventor-first mentality saw him sell off lucrative patents to fund new experiments in the short term.

Abandoned Detroit: the decline of America's car mecca

Detroit, Michigan, began as a fur trading post in the 1700s but would become the world epicenter of car manufacturing in the 1900s after Henry Ford developed his paradigm-shifting assembly line at a plant there. Racial tensions, a lack of economic diversification, and poor leadership would plunge the city into poverty and decay in the late 1900s, culminating in a 2014 bankruptcy. Browse the somber images of the city's abandoned spaces here.