This 1922 Detroit Electric car is on display in the foyer at show venue Cobo Hall, in Detroit, a reminder that motoring history has a habit of repeating itself. More than 12,000 of them were built between 1907 and 1939.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
This particular car was given to the Henry Ford Museum in 1934. Electric cars were particularly popular with women drivers – outselling petrol cars in the early 1900s – because they didn’t need several turns of the crank handle to start them.
But when the electric starter was invented – for Cadillac – in 1912, it marked the beginning of the end for that first generation of electric cars which in those days had a range of about 60 miles (100km) and a top speed of about 25mph (40km/h).
