Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 18 March 2008 10:11
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 3
Want to buy the car that only the super-rich of the 1910 and 1920s
could afford? It’s the Detroit Electric, a car that should have seen
the world choose electricity over petrol decades ago, but for the fact
oil and petrol became so cheap as to give electric cars a shock that
they’re only recovering from now.
CNET’s Michael Kanellos
has reported on the imminent comeback of the electric car through a joint-venture between US electric car company
Zap and their
Chinese partner, China’s Youngman Automotive Group.
Zap
say they have been developing electric vehicles since 1994, and have
already delivered more than 100,000 to the world market in 75
countries.
Current models include the Xebra Sedan electric car
and the Xebra Truck, while two-wheel aficionados can buy the Zapino or
Zappy 3 scooter, while the upcoming ZAP-X and ZAP Alias electric cars
are in development with automotive legends, Lotus Engineering.
The
electric car that was good enough for John D. Rockefeller Jr is going
back on sale, if only in limited numbers, as a promotion for the reborn
Detroit Electric company, which will be producing modern electric cars under the Detroit Electric brand from 2010.
According to the Detroit-Electric
website,
the car was an “American icon in the early part of the 1900s”, with the
brand representing “the most popular electric car in history and the
longest running electric car company, which operated between 1907 and
1939 by the Anderson Electric Car Company in Detroit Michigan.”
The
‘about us’ part of the website continues that: “At the time, the car
was very popular, with customers like Thomas Edison, Charles Proteus
Steinmetz, Henry Ford's Wife Clara, and John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
Detroit Electric is a name that we believe will speak to generations
about the past and the future of automobiles.”
So, how far could
the original Detroit Electric car travel all those decades ago on a
single charge, as well as the latest news from Tesla Electric, whose
'Electric Roadster' has seen delay after delay? Please read onto page
2.
