So when will electric cars again outsell gar powered ones in the future? Whenever it is, it wouldn’t be the first time electric cars have outsold gasoline powered cars. In fact, the first “cars” were electric, some of the first constructed by New England inventor Thomas Davenport in 1834, and up until 1900, electric cars outsold gasoline powered ones; in fact over 90% of cabs in New York City in 1901 were electric. The Baker Torpedo was the fastest car in the world in 1902, clocking in at over 120 mph. People preferred electric cars for their quiet, clean efficiency, lack of need for gear shifting or cranks to get going, and relative simplicity. It was the oil lobby that changed all that with the discovery of oil in Texas and other places that eventually drove the electric car off the road.
It really didn’t make much sense: why build overlapping energy distribution systems, one for electricity and another for an explosive, toxic chemical. But the oil lobby group won the day. Major improvements would be needed to help advance the progression back to electric – one such non-linear innovation could be the discovery of room temperature superconductors which would revolutionize energy storage and electric motors at the same time, not to mention energy transmission. So, when do you think electric cars will outsell gas cars again?
My best guess is sometime in the 2040’s worldwide, and probably as early as the late 2020’s in Europe. What do you think?
I believe that electric cars will outsell gas cars in just about 10 to 15 years. When it becomes harder to find a gas station verses plugging in at home the cascade of electric will be broad. New battery technology has arrived and only getting better by the day. I didn’t think it possible that a battery could be made to get 200 miles . Tesla has one that will do about 500. If inductive charging systems were installed in some parts of the freeway we could eliminate the gas beast immediately’. Less smog, noise, oil leakage into our water culverts, I hope that the oil companies are overwhelmed by the world wide production of electric.