Electric mobility has a long and rather lively history, beginning well before Tesla and today’s sleek EVs turned up.
The story of electric mobility stretches back to the first half of the 19th century. It began with Hungarian inventor Ányos Jedlik building an electric motor in 1827, and by 1890 inventors across the United States, Germany and Britain were turning out electrically powered carriages.
From 1890, electric vehicles went into production, some managing around 20 km/h. Around the turn of the century, entire taxi fleets ran on electric power. Then came the internal combustion engine, cheap petrol and far fewer range worries; by the 1920s, EVs were losing ground fast.
Henry Ford’s assembly line put affordable petrol cars like the Model T within reach, while better roads arrived to suit them. Batteries remained expensive, heavy and low in energy density—hardly a winning combination—so demand for electric cars dwindled.
Interest in alternative drivetrains picked up in the 1950s, mostly via government research. The oil crisis and a growing environmental movement then pushed electrification back into the spotlight. NASA’s Lunar Roving Vehicle, which performed admirably on the Moon, became a tidy proof of feasibility—if it works up there, you get the idea.
Advances in nickel–cadmium and nickel–metal hydride cells made EVs more compelling. In the mid‑1990s, California’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate helped bring General Motors’ EV1 into limited series production—the first in decades. Despite the technical promise, it was discontinued in 2003.
Tesla Motors arrived in 2003 and set about reshaping modern electric mobility. The 2008 Roadster was the first EV to exceed 320 km (about 200 miles), reigniting industry interest. Meanwhile, Toyota’s Prius set the tone for lower‑emission motoring as a mainstream hybrid.
In 2010, Nissan launched the Leaf, among the first mass‑produced EVs, while Chevrolet introduced the plug‑in hybrid Volt. In 2012, Tesla unveiled the Model S, whose range and performance marked a new era. In the wake of the diesel scandal, Volkswagen announced a sweeping electrification push in 2015. Over the decade, China became the world’s largest EV market, buoyed by subsidies and rapid innovation.
From 2020, EV market share climbed sharply, and makers such as Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes‑Benz rolled out all‑electric line‑ups. By 2021, Tesla’s Gigafactory had become the world’s largest producer of lithium‑ion batteries. Progress in solid‑state cells and recycling boosted sustainability and efficiency. In Europe, stringent CO₂ rules accelerated the shift, and countries like Norway plan to end sales of combustion engines by 2035.
From 2030, many countries and companies aim to phase out combustion engines entirely. Autonomous electric vehicles—and their integration into broader, more sustainable transport—will be central. Expect bigger strides in battery recycling and renewables, with the long‑term goal of making electric mobility effectively CO₂‑neutral.
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