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SW “Ohia” |
Battery Electric vehicles were a major competitor to liquid fuel vehicles in the early automotive era. No crank starting, dealing with fuel, cold weather misbehavior, etc. They hung on into the late prewar era for urban delivery vehicles and “package cars.” If battery technology could have improved at the time, I’m fairly certain they would’ve continued to remain highly popular.
Electric starters, automatic ignition advance, improved fuel quality, and more efficient carburetors eliminated a lot of the tangible drawbacks to internal combustion motoring.
Interestingly enough, gasoline engines with electric drive (kind of a hybrid) was marketed with success by several manufacturers. In an era before automatic transmissions it was a very unique feature.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Magnetic
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Electric Car
