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Marc Stern    June 16, 2019 - 12:58PM

One item of correction: Electric vehicles were among the leading sellers before the turn of the 20th century. The Baker Electric was a two-door, formal cab-style electric that sold in decent numbers until 1915 when ICE vehicles really took over the market. Perhaps it was WWI, I have never investigated that aspect, but I do know that after 1915 electrics practically vanished from the marketplace for about 60 years. There were occasional tries, but they usually failed, including several that were from New England. As to batteries, solid state batteries are still too expensive and no one knows when the economics of that particular type of battery will come down. Lithiums or LIthium-ions are also too expensive, though the production curve is coming down. The problem with Lithium-style batteries is that there is finite amount of Lithium produced every year and this country does not control that particular resource. I have always liked the hydrogen-fuel-cell-style battery that appeared from M-B in the 1970s. The key issue with them is storage and each medium they tried required added heat which cut expected mileage. To get back to the first point, though, electics were competitive for the first 30 years of the automotive revolution 1885-1915, and they did sell in appreciable numbers. The only problem was they were lead-acids with very limited range, though most folks back then didn't drive that far as the roads were positively atrocious.

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