TIL about Detroit Electric
2026-04-29 22:17 UTC
Replies (12)
-
@resipsaloquitur@lemmy.cafe 2026-04-30 01:36
BS. It took a genius the level of Elon and his superior genetics to think of putting an electric motor in a car.
-
@jaykrown@lemmy.world 2026-04-29 22:50
How did they let these die? They're so stylish, we should bring them back immediately except with solid state batteries that can let them drive 200+ miles and charge in 5 minutes.
-
@possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 2026-04-30 02:11
Honesty it seems like a decent car I'm honesty surprised they managed to get 80 miles of range. That's pretty much what you get with a older Nissan leaf
-
@darklamer@feddit.org 2026-04-30 00:11
I always knew that reading Donald Duck comic books would pay off one day, I've known about these since I was a child, that's Grandma Duck's car!
-
@Tim_Bisley@piefed.social 2026-04-30 01:13
There were quite a few electric cars, they started in the late 1800s made by multiple companies. Shit they even had electric trains.
-
@finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world 2026-04-30 07:41
Remember when thought was given to the beauty of the design of cars (like above), and nowadays we have the mutant electric shaver that is Teslas?
-
@fubarx@lemmy.world 2026-05-01 10:49
An even earlier manufacturer was Baker Electric of Cleveland, Ohio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker_Motor_Vehicle. They werem't the first (EVs had been around since 1880), but by 1906 they were the biggest car maker, running the largest manufacturing plant in the world. Main market was for those who made frequent short stops, and didn't want to get their hands dirty hand-cranking the gas or steam motor starters. Their coupe model had a 'boat-tiller' instead of a steering wheel. Jay Leno has a restored 1909 Baker Electric he showed on an old car show: https://youtu.be/OhnjMdzGusc There was a glut of electric cars, then gas-powered ones with longer range showed up. In 1912, the electric starter was introduced for gas cars, taking away one of the main features of EVs. By 1914, Baker would merge and then shut down.
-
@undefined@lemmy.hogru.ch 2026-04-30 04:05
I wish it would’ve gone into how the battery worked. I just can’t imagine that that part of it was too great.
-
@PumpkinSkink@lemmy.world 2026-05-01 23:21
The most fascinating thing I saw on that wiki page was that Lizzie Borden owned an electric vehicle... and she isn't even the worst person on the list. lol
-
@hoch@lemmy.world 2026-04-30 01:43
what a useful comment, so proud of you
-
@OwOarchist@pawb.social 2026-04-30 03:44
Also, it probably has a top speed in the neighborhood of 30mph.
-
@possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 2026-05-01 13:13
Try going on a long distance trip somewhere and then get back to me. These days it is a little more doable. However, you still have to wait for your car to charge. And that's ignoring the wear on the battery from fast charging