ELECTRIC AUTOMOBILES. 479 



ELECTEIC AUTOMOBILES. 



By WM. BAXTER, Jr. 



A S electricity has been so successful in the street railway, where it 

 -£^- has superseded all other forms of motive power, it might natu- 

 rally be supposed that it would do equally well in the automobile; 

 but when the difference in the conditions is taken into consideration it 

 will be found that such a conclusion is not justified. In the street 

 railway systems the cars run continuously over the same route, and on 

 that account the electric current required to operate the motors can 

 be conveyed to them from a central power station by means of wires. 

 With the automobile the case is very different; the vehicle has no fixed 

 course, but is required to go everywhere, and the current must be sup- 

 plied from a source carried by it. If primary batteries could be made 

 so as to furnish electric currents at a low cost, then the electric car- 

 riage would be in the same position as those operated by steam or gaso- 

 line, and it could go wherever the proper chemicals to renew the battery 

 could be obtained. But as there are no such primary batteries, the only 

 way in which the current can be supplied is by the use of storage batter- 

 ies, and these cannot give out any more energy than is put into them, 

 and in practice cannot give quite as much. Thus if the capacity of the 

 battery is sufficient to run the vehicle forty miles when this distance 

 has been traversed the propelling power will be exhausted, and the 

 batteries will have to be recharged before the carriage can go any fur- 

 ther. If the recharging could be done in a few minutes, the storage 

 battery would be as good as a primary battery that would generate 

 electricity economically; but as it requires three or more hours, the 

 electrical vehicle cannot be used for long runs, unless the user is will- 

 ing to make long stops each time the battery has to be recharged. 

 Even then an electric vehicle could not go everywhere, for it would be 

 compelled to follow routes along which facilities for recharging the 

 batteries could be found. From this fact it can be seen that the elec- 

 tric automobile carriage cannot cover the same field as the steam or 

 the gasoline (in the present state of electrical development). Within 

 the limits to which it is applicable, however, it can perform its work 

 in the most satisfactory manner, and, in fact, no possible objection can 

 be raised against it. Its operation is noiseless and vibration of the 

 vehicle is impossible. There is no heat to inconvenience the passen- 

 gers, no disagreeable smell, no escaping steam. Any desired speed can 

 be obtained, although, of course, a heavy delivery wagon cannot be 



