Not many people know electric cars actually go as far back as 1906 in America

While electric cars are often seen as the transport of the future, not many people know that electric cars go as far back as the start of the 20th century in America.

The Waverley Pope electric car is an example of electric cars existing long before BYD and Tesla.

Developed and manufactured in the US, a Waverley Pope electric car still exists in pristine condition today.

Powered by a 60-volt DC motor, the car is steered by a tiller and can reach breakneck speeds of just over 10mph (16kmh).

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‘By far the best electric on the market’

Back in 1906, eccentric inventor Colonel Albert A. Pope created and manufactured his “American Dream Machine” – the Waverley Pope Model 67 Victoria Phaeton.

The car was the hottest commodity on the market, owned by celebrities of its day, including fellow inventor Thomas Edison.

The car looks traditionally Victorian, with big wooden wheels covered with sleek black fenders and gas lamp headlights, but surprisingly, it’s powered by five 12-volt gel lead batteries.

Like the Aspark Owl of its time, the Waverley Pope was the fastest electric car at the time at a whopping top speed of 16mph and was seen by the public as ‘by far the best electric on the market’.

It seems as though electric transport was meant to be commonplace in the 20th Century, with department stores in New York City having charging ports outside of them called ‘electrants’ , a portmanteau derived from ‘electric’ and ‘hydrant’.

Thanks to AI, it’s now possible to power seven electric cars at once, but back in the day it would take hours to full charge your vehicle.

In the early 1900s, only 22 percent of cars were powered by petrol, the rest were powered by steam and electricity.

So, this begs the question: what happened to electric cars for almost a century?

Electric cars in America

Despite their initial popularity, electric cars were causing a few issues for drivers.

On a full charge, Waverley Pope’s range was only 20-30km which made it impractical for the burgeoning class of boy racers who were using their cars to travel around Europe.

Modern day electric car batteries work similarly to mobile phone batteries, cutting off charging when the battery is fully charged.

This mechanism hadn’t been discovered yet, so the car batteries had a habit of blowing up if they were overcharged.

Petrol cars were faster, could go farther and new oil fields were being discovered constantly, so the traditional combustion engine driven car won out in the big stand off between steam, electric and petrol powered cars.

While not many of these cars exist anymore, a Waverley Pope Model 67 Victoria Phaeton exists in pristine condition at Great Tangley Manor in Surrey.

Its owner, Glyn Powell-Evans has converted the battery to a modern one and installed a small petrol powered motor, making it a one-of-a-kind hybrid version that is used in vintage car rallies.