Electric cars are far from an innovation of this century. More than a hundred years ago, they were quite popular. Confirmation of this historical fact was given by the rare retro model Detroit Electric Model 75B from 1918, which attracted the attention of connoisseurs during the Mecum auction in California. At the dawn of the 20th century, electric cars dominated the American market – By 1912, an impressive 38,800 electric vehicles were registered in the United States.
The success of these early vehicles was due to a number of advantages over their gasoline-powered rivals at the time. Internal combustion engines were noisy, smelled of fuel, and emitted smoke, but their biggest drawback was starting with a hand crank. Electric models offered instant starting without physical effort, and the oil shortage during World War I further increased their demand. The leader in this era was the Detroit Electric company, which produced over 13,000 cars between 1907 and 1939. Among the brand's clients are the names of inventor Thomas Edison, oil magnate John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford's wife and future president Dwight Eisenhower.
The Detroit Electric Model 75B presented at the auction impresses with a carriage design, in which passengers and the driver sit facing each other, and control is carried out not with a traditional steering wheel, but with a metal lever. The original factory configuration relies on 42 lead-acid batteries and provides an autonomy of 128 kilometers (80 miles) – autonomy, surpassing that of the first generation of the modern Nissan Leaf from 2011 (117 km). The limitation, however, comes from the modest maximum speed of 32 km/h, provided by an electric motor with a power of only 4.3 horsepower.
The specific example from 1918 has undergone a meticulous restoration to perfect condition, in which its original battery pack has been replaced with modern power cells. This improvement not only guarantees full functionality, but also increases its real mileage compared to the original indicators.