I'm an advocate for electric cars needing to get back to
basics. There's no need to be running off, sticking in 56-inch
touchscreens, or making the EV larger than a small European state.
Really, one of the things we should be working on is taking existing
chassis, finding ways to quickly convert them to EVs, and worrying
about all the fancy stuff later. Nothing new under the sun and all
that, which is how I found myself driving a converted
[url=http://www.dayangmoto.com/motor-tricycle/]motor tricycle[/url]
from 140 years ago through the British countryside.
Two weeks ago, journalist Jeremy Hart got in touch with me and
asked me if I wanted to drive a replica of an EV from 1881. The
answer, obviously, was yes. Nothing on earth could be more my jam
than this. Once I'd worked out if it was legal for me to
actually leave my house and drive something under the U.K.'s
lockdown restrictions, I was straight on the train to Surrey to have
a go in a remake of what was very probably the first-ever vehicle
with a rechargeable battery.
Not sure what image you were expecting here but: Yes, this is an
electric [url=http://www.dayangmoto.com/motor-tricycle/cargo-motor-
tricycle/]cargo motor tricycle [/url]from 1881. Or, well, an
unbelievably faithful replica of one that Hart commissioned and
artisan bicycle designer Christian Richards built.
Because the original vehicle was an adaptation rather than a
purpose-built chassis, the yoke-like pedals in front still work and
can power the vehicle—and swing wildly, threatening to take your
shins out when it's under motor power. The single seat is at the
top, perched a bit perilously, and the battery is—as it seems to
have been on the original—in a pannier attached to the rear of the
bike. The motor drives the big left-hand wheel and the two smaller
wheels are connected to what's surprisingly responsive steering.
Now for the facts about this vehicle. It's not really a stat
sheet so much as it is a story.
Before 1881, there had already been some progress at making
electric vehicles happen. ányos Jedlik, a Hungarian inventor, had
made a small cart that used a motor to move in 1828. Four years
after that, Moritz Jacobi, a Russian engineer, made an electric boat
using non-rechargeable batteries that poisoned its passengers so
seriously even the early pioneers of vehicles were forced to admit
they'd succumbed to nitrous fumes.
By 1839, a Scottish inventor called Robert Davidson created
something that, today, is widely credited as being the first
electric car. It ran through the streets of Aberdeen, Scotland, with
a passenger, but everything we know about it—which admittedly, is a
surprisingly small amount for what was a huge breakthrough—says it
used chemical, non-rechargeable batteries.
