1914 Detroit Electric car drives silently away from its garage

This 1914 Detroit Electric duplex brougham was originally owned by famous General Electric scientist Charles Proteus Steinmetz. He was chauffeured in it around Schenectady, NY, until his 1923 death. The car was found derelict in a field in the 1970s, and restored by Union College, which uses the Detroit Electric in its graduation ceremonies. The rest of the year, it is displayed in the Edison Tech Center.

The car is run by an electric motor powered by 14 6-Volt lead-acid batteries. It is steered via a tiller: push forward for left turns, pull back for right turns. There are two sets of controls, so it can be driven from the front or rear seats. The top speed is about 30 mph, and it can be driven about 25 miles.

Electric cars were considered the most refined form of transportation in the early 1900s, and the only one suitable for women to drive, since they required no engine cranking or boiler stoking.

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Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• electric car
• edison
• steinmetz
• general electric
• ge
• Detroit Electric
• antique car
• old car
• classic car
• battery
• brougham
• union college
• schenectady
• edison tech center

[SayNoToTaxCheats]

This my friends, makes my blood boil when I think of all the lives lost over OIL! and other global natural resources ...

[videowilliams]

The future of motoring right there.

[theMuffinMan9999]

@SayNoToTaxCheats Don't be so mad... electric car technology was never viable until recently, and now it's here to stay!

[ajivins1]

I remember seeing an old black and white movie about an elderly detective (possibly played by Sir Cedric Hardwicke) who had been a contemporary of Holmes. It was a fifties movie and he drove one of these. The joke was when he pulled up at a filling station he only asked for the tyrs to be filled-up...

[hydrolito]

@ShizoluckyShizostar The batteries wouldn't have lasted as long back then and it wouldn't have been as fast. Also a lot less electical outlets set up to recharge it, now only some major cities have recharging stations but eletric recharging stations might some day outnumber gas stations just as cell phones are now out selling lined phones.

[datpimpinboy]

@gasfgiop agreed

[gentle285]

@heatfullrat Well, the driveway is long and narrow, you have to be careful x) Seriously, it was only in 1914.

[gasfgiop]

Fake & gay. That thing was going downhill.

[luedriver]

used to be the horse-less carriage, now the noise-less carriage

[heatfullrat]

From driveway to street in 9sec.