Electric Vehicle

An electric vehicle is powered by an electric motor which is supplied in turn by batteries. As long as cars have been around, there have been electric vehicles. The famous Jamais Contente, for example – which in 1889 became the first vehicle to break the 100 km/h barrier – was an electric vehicle. You would have to wait another three years before you could say the same thing about a vehicle with a combustion engine. No wonder then, that by the year 1910 a good third of all the cars in the United States were electric models. Even today, famed talk-show host Jay Leno still enthusiastically drives a 1909 Baker Electric.
Nowadays, in many cities, electric vehicles – which produce zero emissions locally – are the only means for getting around transport restrictions. Also no wonder that in many countries the purchase and maintenance of these vehicles is subsidised by the government.