February, 1915 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
103 
(C) Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 
It is undoubtedly the most handy conveyance for the shopping trip, for visiting neigh¬ 
bors, meeting trains and for short rides about the country. No expert attention is 
needed, any one can run it. A practical neighborhood car 
tours. After a run of about fifty miles in the morning, the bat¬ 
tery can be “boosted'’ while its driver and passengers are at 
luncheon, and an equal distance covered in the afternoon without 
taxing the battery. Over night the battery can be given a full 
charge, and this performance repeated, day after day, ad lib. 
In the matter of speed, the electric automobile normally has a 
range of from zero to about twenty-two miles an hour. For 
those who delight in tearing along the country highways at forty 
to sixty miles an hour this speed limitation of the electric is a 
condemning feature. For the average person, however, a speed 
of twenty-two miles an hour is sufficient, and they find in the 
quiet, gliding motion of the electric car a sensation which recom¬ 
penses them for the absence of high speed. It is entirely possible, 
however, to get higher speeds out of an electric. Speed is simply 
a matter of gearing, but is only secured at a sacrifice of mileage 
radius, and for this reason is not desirable. On one of the trips 
made between New York and Boston last year by an electric, the 
average speed for the entire run was 21.3 miles an hour, and on 
another it was 20 miles an hour. 
In order to determine the cost of operating and maintaining 
electric automobiles the Electric Vehicle Association of America 
conducted a nation-wide canvass of owners during the past year. 
In considering the results obtained, the prospective owner of an 
electric car in the country should remember the fact that most of 
the vehicles on which figures were computed were used and gar¬ 
aged in cities and towns, where the cost of housing and charging 
are usually higher than in the country. This is particularly the 
case where the country user not only garages his or her own car, 
but also has a private charging plant. Small private charging 
plants cost but little money and require little or no skill or atten¬ 
tion to operate. They require only the making of the connec¬ 
tion, as the charging is automatically controlled, and automatically 
shut off when the battery is completely charged. 
In the canvass referred to a set of questions was submitted to 
a large list of electric automobile owners in twenty-nine different 
States. The first question was: “What has been your average 
monthly bill for current consumed?” The replies were divided 
into two classes—one for 
cars kept in private garages 
and the other for those kept 
in public garages. In the first 
class answers received from 
Eastern States showed an 
average cost of $5.34 per 
month for cars kept in pri¬ 
vate garages. From the Mid¬ 
dle Western States the an¬ 
swers showed an average cost 
of $5.61 per month; from the 
Southern States the replies 
showed the average to be 
$ 5-75 P er month; from the 
Southwestern States the 
monthly average was $6.35; 
in the Northwestern States 
the average cost indicated by 
the answers was $6.00 per 
month ; the answers from the 
Pacific Coast showed an av¬ 
erage of $5.90. From the entire United States the replies showed 
an average cost for current consumed of $5.73 per month. The 
cost of storage and service, including washing, polishing and cur¬ 
rent consumed, for cars kept in public garages, varied from $15.00 
to $35.00 per month, the average being $23.50. 
The second question asked owners of electric cars was: “What 
is your best approximate of the average monthly distance trav¬ 
eled?” The answers to this question varied widely; only twenty- 
five owners reported a monthly average of over 500 miles, and the 
highest was 900 miles. Answers were received from owners in 
Eastern States showing an average of 315 miles per month; from 
the Middle West, showing an average of 290 miles per month; 
from the Southwest, showing an average of 278 miles per month; 
from the Northwestern States, showing an average of 257 miles 
per month; and from the Pacific Coast, showing an average of 
215 miles per month. For the entire United States the monthly 
average, as shown from the answers to this question, was 286 
miles. 
The answers to the third question, which inquired as to the 
life of the batteries, were remarkably uniform, and showed that 
the manufacturers’ guarantees were exceeded. On the basis of 
the use cited above, the average life of the batteries was two and 
a quarter years. 
The fourth question was; “What period of service has your 
car had, and what has been your tire expense?” Owners in the 
Eastern States with thirty-seven months’ experience reported an 
average monthly tire expense of $3.08, and seven owners, with 
an average of twenty-two months’ service, stated that they had 
had no tire expense. In the Middle Western States, owners 
with thirty-six months’ average experience reported monthly tire 
renewal costs of $4.81 ; owners with fifteen months of service re¬ 
ported no tire expense. In the Southern States, owners with an 
average of twenty-five months’ experience reported $5.16 per 
month for tire renewals, and others averaging seven months of 
electric-car service reported no tire expense. Owners with 
twenty-seven months’ experience in the Southwestern States re¬ 
ported $5.66 monthly expense for tire renewals, and those with an 
average of seventeen months, 
no expense. In the North¬ 
western States owners with 
an average of forty-eight 
months’ service reported 
$3.74 average monthly cost 
for tires, while those with an 
average of eighteen months 
had no tire expense. Owners 
on the Pacific Coast with 
twenty-five months’ expe¬ 
rience reported no tire ex¬ 
pense. The general average 
for the entire United States, 
for tire renewal cost, was 
$2.78 per month. 
Taking these monthly av¬ 
erages of $5.73 for current, 
$2.78 for tire renewals, and 
286 miles as the distance 
traveled, we have an average 
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