Meet the Roberts electric car. Built in 1896, it gets a solid 40 miles to the charge — exactly the mileage Chevrolet advertises for the Volt — the much-touted $31,645 electric car General Motors CEO Dan Akerson called “not a step forward, but a leap forward.”
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So the whole Petroleum Thing was a BIG MISTAKE FROM THE START !!! I read somewhere Edison was trying to get Ford to use his Iron-Nickle Batteries in his cars, but Rockefeller prevailed !!! Eat smog, Angelenos !!!
I wouldn’t want to drive that thing. give me the volt or the spark==or really, just the needle.
Most new things were in the lab 50 years ago, so the electric car beats this out a bit “if” one wants to equate the two very different products.
Of note–old and new electrics fail in the market place for the very same reasons. We have about another 20 years to go before electrics will be the winning choice in a “free” market.
“We have about another 20 years to go before electrics will be the winning choice in a “free” market.”
Heard the same thing about Solar and Wind power, 30 years ago. They still won’t pay for themselves for 30 years even under the best condition. The Volt sucks period.
Yep, its just a guess/wag. I’m not even thinking of any major breakthrus===just that oil will continue to get more expensive.
Do you think in 20 years a gallon of gas will be more expensive or not?
I’m glad you agree with my school books published in the fifties. Another 20 years will fix it.
But, but, but, without the petroleum industry we wouldn’t have had George W. Bush, the Sauds, Kadaffy, Saddam, the Ayotollah, Jet Rink, & Jed Clampett!
That’d be a great comparison if this car could do 70 mph and not be completely obliterated by a collision with a modern automobile.
sheesh.
True but that POS won’t be able to haul a 400lb Teabagger to the mall going 80mph in air conditioned luxury.
But with road maintenance coming out of the public purse and with that going the way it is, the Tea Baggers are going to get us back to driving safely and slowly … and we’ll have lots of fertilizer too if we remember to hitch up the “crap catcher” to the horse’s ass.
That POS will do just fine going to and coming from a train/mass transit station in the ‘burbs.
My Prius gets 60mpg including highway. I can go to my local grocery store completely on a charge (difficult but doable).
I can only hope the Teabagger spawn will grow up more efficient and green oriented. Unlikely though
Um so exactly how are you greens going to pay for highways once you go electric. An electric tax or go toll both?
Oh I know tax the rich. The rich being defined as anyone who makes more than you do.
Despite the obvious flaws of the comparison, you have to admit the comical irony of the the two cars separated by more than a century.
Seriously: What exactly is the irony here and what makes it comical?
The irony? Oh I don’t know.
The fact that , even though the Roberts and the Volt were made about 115 years apart, they both have four wheels, batteries, an electric motor and go about the same distance on a charge.
Meanwhile during that time, the world saw the invention of the airplane, radio, television, atomic power, the computer, space travel, landing men on the moon, calculators, the personal computer, cellular phones, the internet and the smart-phone, just to name a few.
Meanwhile, the Volt has four wheels, batteries, an electric motor and goes about the same distance as the Roberts on a charge.
What would you call that, progress?
But the volt also has a gasoline motor to aleviate range anxiety…
And Im guessing those modern lithium ion batteries can take more charge cycles than those deep cycle lead acid batteries…
And a heater, and a radio, power steering, probably goes considerably faster, has a better ride, and requres less maintenance.
40 miles was chosen because that is how far volt drivers need to go…
On the other hand the Roberts probably did 40 miles because it was the absolute best they could do.
So yeah the 100 years of progress is quite evident…
Progress, Yes. Dramatic progress, No!
Besides, when I was growing up in the 60’s I was told that we would all have flying cars and jet packs by 1980. Maybee I am just bitter…
And you are pulling the power to charge that sucker straight off the electric grid. The power has to come from somewhere and be transmitted someway. You will have to seriously beef up the electric utilities and power generation if everyone goes this way even if that option was the most cost effective option on the table at this time which it isn’t.
Steve–so you have addressed supposed lack of progress. Seriously: What exactly is the irony here and what makes it comical?
This thing was developed at about the same time as fuel cells. Sometimes I wonder if our inventiveness was completely used up by 1900!
Fuel cells are nice. You get the fuel where and what does it cost?
You are an idiot. Maybe we should close the patent office.
“Before her husband Henry’s mass production of gas-powered cars crushed the electric industry, Clara Ford drove a 1914 Detroit Electric, which could last 80 miles without a charge.”
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1871282,00.html#ixzz1an3WmLBG
Add airconditioning, collision structurals, four doors, disc brakes with ABS and huge amounts of glass, and the electric baby pram won’t move.
They didn’t need collision structureals, doors and a windshield because the thing probably only goes 10mph, which was a good clip in 1895
How come this is a surprise?
Henry Ford made his famous Model T out of Cannabis that ran on Cannabis fuel
Talk about green cars!!
You could hammer that thing and still, you didn’t dent it.
Search on YouTube: henry ford cannabis car
The oil companies put up a campaign to make it illegal to use Cannabis for anything because it had one side effect. It makes you high.
Sort of making grapes illegal because if you make wine and you drink it, it makes you high.
We lost a century of innovation and the planet is in a mess thanks to the mere interest of a few individuals.
Shouldn’t Al Gore’s Nobel Prize be taken away?
JCD===PLEASE FIX THIS BLOG.
As you can see above in the attempted exchange between Steve, Greg, and Moi, the 4 deep limitation of nesting makes the flow of exchanges impossible.
So poor, it must be expressly for a purpose not known to us common users?
Whats the deal? WHY aren’t you returning to the old format with your preferred color scheme?
Silly.
deowll, stop making fun of people’s religion.
A beautiful metaphor for greenie wishful thinking.
We have the same ancient technology to power it too
(17th century windmills). The technology may be new
but the power density is the same, and that’s the issue.
blogg’s looking good.