Wheels: Early electric vehicles

For many car enthusiasts and average consumers loathe to change, electric vehicles are a turn down the wrong road. But it wasn’t always this way. In fact, EVs were among the first vehicles to make the transition from horse-drawn carriage to self-propelled automobile.

The Columbus Buggy Co. achieved success in 1903, employing a cast of leaders like Clinton D. Firestone and Joseph F. Firestone, president and V.P., and also father and brother respectively of Harvey S. Firestone who went on to build his namesake tire empire; Lee Frayer, race car driver and 1911 Indy 500 competitor; and Eddie Rickenbacker, future American top flying ace pilot in World War I with 26 aerial victories and often erroneously credited with shooting down the “Red Baron,” Manfred von Richthofen — but that was actually Snoopy. Nah, just kidding, responsibility for defeat of the “Red Baron” has never been conclusively settled.