Speed and Endurance of Electric Powered Motor Cars / Automobiles

4.4 Speed and Endurance of Electric Powered Cars

• The electric car built by Morrison in America was capable of running for 13 consecutive hours at 14 mph (22.4 kph).

• The top speed of the early production electric vehicles was limited to about 20 mph (32 kph).

• A racing version of the electric car produced by Ferdinand Porsche (German) in about 1890 was capable of 56 kph (35 mph).

• In the late 19th/early 20th century electric cars were the fastest cars in the World.

• In France in December 1898 the French Jeantaud car, powered by a single electric motor generating 36 hp, set the first land speed record with a speed of 62.78 kph (39.24 mph).