Edison Electric Cars Precede Tesla Models by Almost 100 Years

Summary: Thomas Edison built Edison electric cars almost 100 years before fellow inventor Nikola Tesla was the namesake of Tesla Motors and Tesla electric cars.

Bob Burrell of Chelmsford, Essex, spent eight years restoring his 1912 Edison electric car; the whereabouts of Edison's two other electric-powered cars are unknown: Blue Energy @BlueEnergyAus, via Twitter Feb. 21, 2016

Tesla Motors of Palo Alto, California, acknowledges in the company name and products electrical engineering feats by Nikola Tesla even though Thomas Edison beat his fellow inventor by building Edison electric cars.

The automotive and energy storage company, whose global corporate headquarters is in the United States, based its first car motor upon Tesla’s original design of 1882. The Tesla Roadster, described as the world’s first fully electric sports car and produced between 2008 and 2012, commemorates the triumph of alternating over direct current. An alternating current (AC) electricity supply system depends upon regular directional reverses in the flow of electric charge whereas direct current (DC) maintains one directional flow.

Battery upgrades enlarge ranges, between 30-minute supercharges and 8-hour standard charges, for known production of 2,500 Roadsters from 245 to 400 miles (394.29 to 643.74 kilometers).

The Tesla Model S, since 2012, and the Tesla Model X, since 2015, follow the carbon fiber-bodied Tesla Roadster and precede 2016’s steel-bodied Tesla Model 3.

The Tesla Model S, an all-electric, aluminum-bodied, five-door, full-sized luxury liftback, gives a range of 300 miles (482.80 kilometers) between 30-minute supercharges and 4 1/2-hour standard charges. The Tesla Model S P85D heads the road test scores in the 2016 annual auto issue by Consumer Reports for April 2016 with the only 100. It is listed among the best gas mileage cars with 87 miles per gallon (MPGe) equivalents, just above the Tesla Model S (85kWh) with 84 MPGe.

Participants in the Consumer Reports’ Owner Satisfaction Survey judge the Tesla Model S as most, and Acura RLX and Cadillac XTS as least, satisfying mid-sized/large cars.

The Tesla Model X, an all-electric, four-wheel drive, full-sized luxury crossover sport utility vehicle (SUV), keeps five-, six- and seven-passenger seating options open for owner decision-making.

The set of falcon- or gull-wing rear doors, by moving upward and out-of-the-way, lets passengers in for easy, safe access to two rows of rear seats. The Model X manages zero- to 60-mile- (zero- to 96.56-kilometer-) per hour times within 5 seconds and, between 30-minute supercharges and 6-hour standard charges, 265-mile (426.48-kilometer) ranges.

Michael Boxwell, author of The Electric Car Guide, notes that satisfied owners praise Tesla cars for “head-turning looks” as well as “impressive range” and “terrific performance.” He observes that the fast-charging, 30-minute Supercharge stations in Asia, Europe and North America give 170-mile (273.59-kilometer) range boosts, the minimum distance of Edison electric cars.

The 1912 model restored by Bob Burrell of Essex, United Kingdom, proves to be the only survivor of three Edison electric cars built by Thomas Edison.

Edison electric cars, at £300 apiece, qualify as electric with two alkali, Edison-invented, 15-volt batteries, 30-volt motor, 170-mile (273.59-kilometer) ranges and without large engine compartments. Burrell reveals that, with 25-mile (40.23-kilometer) speeds, Edison “built three cars, one of which he drove from Scotland to London, charging it up along the way.” He says “Imagine what we would have now if Edison had been listened to a century ago” since Edison foresaw “all the oil” getting used up.

I think that Edison would approve of Tesla’s direct current superchargers and that Tesla would be impressed with the beautiful functionality of Tesla Motors electric cars.

2012 Tesla Roadster; Tesla Tokyo, Minato Ward, central Tokyo, southeastern Honshu, Japan; Wednesday, May 9, 2012: cytech, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Bob Burrell of Chelmsford, Essex, spent eight years restoring his 1912 Edison electric car; the whereabouts of Edison's two other electric-powered cars are unknown: Blue Energy @BlueEnergyAus, via Twitter Feb. 21, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/BlueEnergyAus/status/701457571828248576

2012 Tesla Roadster; Tesla Tokyo, Minata Ward, central Tokyo, southeastern Honshu, Japan; Wednesday, May 9, 2012: cytech, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tesla_Roadster_Japanese_display.jpg;
Kazuhisa OTSUBO (cytech), via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/cytech/7163567282/

For further information:

Blue Energy @BlueEnergy Aus. 21 February 2016. "Thomas Edison's 1912 Electric Car Gets A Chance To Shine." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/BlueEnergyAus/status/701457571828248576

CAR Magazine @CARmagazine. 9 March 2016. "An in-depth walkaround of the new #Tesla Model X SUV." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/CARmagazine/status/707736514185179136

Ingram, Antony. 27 Sept. 2010. “Thomas Edison’s 1912 Electric Car Gets a Chance to Shine.” Green Car Reports > News > Electric Cars.
Available @ http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1049744_thomas-edisons-1912-electric-car-gets-a-chance-to-shine