The electric car was common in 1905!

There was a car company named Rauch and Lang based out of Cleveland, Ohio that was started by Jacob Rauch and Charles E.J. Lang. The partners were originally wagon builders who decided to begin manufacturing automobiles, and in 1905 started to release electrically powered automobiles. 

By 1908 the company was producing 500 cars per year and eventually merged to form a larger company. They eventually moved to Massachusetts and began producing both electric and gasoline versions, but stopped in 1928 from lack of funds. Electric cars were actually quite popular back in the early to mid 1900’s. 

Electricity used to be one of the more preferred methods to power transportation, and was actually favored by many over gasoline and oil powered engines. The change came when internal combustion technology made extreme advances making the electric models seem much slower and less powerful. In fact, when gasoline vehicles took off, the price to power a gasoline car was nearly half of the cost of an electric model.

Companies such as the Ford Motor Company mass-produced gasoline cars, which electric models were unable to do at the time, making them both more efficient and cheaper. It was not until recently that electric cars have seen a comeback with concerns growing over oil and global warming. 

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