Electric Cars at Their Peak: What Do the Real Sales Figures Say?
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Around 1900, the claim that one in every three cars was electric is largely true, but an incomplete truth. That year, according to various sources, between 28 and 38 percent of automobiles in the United States were electric; meaning one in three cars could indeed have been electric. However, this figure applies only to the US fleet, it is not a universal rate, and 40 percent of that same year's automobiles ran on steam. Electric cars were not even the leader of the era.
Highlights
- In 1900, of the automobiles in the US, 28-38% were electric; the most common motor vehicle, with a 40% share, was steam-powered.
- In 1912, a gasoline car cost 650 dollars, while an electric roadster cost 1,750 dollars.
- By 1909, the number of electric vehicles produced had fallen to roughly 4.4% of gasoline production.
- By 1915, the electric cars' share of the US market had dropped to 5%.
- In 2024, 22% of new vehicles sold globally were electric; in Norway, this rate was 92%.
How True Is the Claim That "One in Every Three Cars Was Electric"?
This claim hides a definition problem. The exact value of the rate varies depending on how it is measured: Some calculations are based on the fleet of vehicles on the road, while others use production numbers for 1900, and the result shifts between 28 and 38 percent. According to a widely used data set, in 1900 40% of US automobiles ran on steam, 38% on electricity, and 22% on gasoline . A different calculation shows that 28% of vehicles on the road were electric. The two numbers are different slices of the same reality: one measures the production-fleet mix, the other measures the registered fleet.
From an engineering standpoint, the real question is this: Which geography do these figures cover? The answer is clear - the US only. The one-third share of electric cars is not a global picture. Moreover, the leader of the era was not electric but steam. So saying "electric cars were at the peak" is like saying of a team that finished second in a race that they "were at the peak": true but incomplete, and it misrepresents the winner.
How and When Was the Electric Car Born?
The roots of the electric car go back further than the automobile itself. In 1827-1828, the Hungarian priest Ányos Jedlik developed the first electric motor, and the following year he powered a small model car with a non-rechargeable battery. Between 1832 and 1839, the Scottish inventor Robert Anderson attempted a primitive electric car; in 1834, the Vermont blacksmith Thomas Davenport built a similar contraption; in 1835, in Groningen, Sibrandus Stratingh and his assistant Christopher Becker produced a small-scale electric car. This curiosity, which also extended to rails, materialized with Robert Davidson's first electric locomotive, which reached a speed of 6 km/h in 1837/1838; the Galvani of 1841 pulled a 6,100 kg load at 6.4 km/h - until railway workers saw it as a threat to their jobs and destroyed it.
The critical threshold came with the battery: Gaston Planté invented the lead-acid, i.e. rechargeable, battery in 1859; Camille Alphonse Faure greatly increased its capacity in 1881 and made industrial production possible. In the same year, on 19 April 1881, Gustave Trouvé tested what was probably the first electric vehicle carrying a person with its own power source on Rue Valois in Paris. In 1884 Thomas Parker built his first electric car in Wolverhampton; in 1888 Andreas Flocken's Flocken Elektrowagen is referred to as "the first real electric car" in many assessments.
Speed Records Were Also Broken by Electrics
The speed culture of the early era was written with electricity. On 18 December 1898, the Jeantaud electric car broke the first automotive land speed record at 63.13 km/h. A short time later, on 29 April 1899, Camille Jenatzy La Jamais Contente reached 105.88 km/h, becoming the first vehicle to break the 100 km/h barrier - and that vehicle was electric. Ferdinand Porsche also developed the P1 electric car in 1898, and then set records with the all-wheel-drive, in-wheel-motor Lohner-Porsche and built the era's first hybrid car.
Why Were Electric Cars Appealing in the 1900s?
The advantages of the electric bear a surprising resemblance to today's sales arguments: silence, no odor, no gear-shifting hassle, and no need for a hand crank. Its rivals had serious problems; steam cars required up to 45 minutes of startup time on cold mornings and needed water refills, while gasoline cars were noisy, emitted exhaust, and had to be started with a hand crank. Moreover, in 1900 the rural roads in the USA were so poor that the electric's short range was not even a major practical disadvantage.
Demand was concentrated in a specific segment: urban and affluent buyers along with women drivers. Marketed to the upper class with luxurious interiors, electrics were so confined to a segment that marketing them to women risked stigmatization among male consumers. The urban service side also woke up early: in 1897, Walter Bersey's electric taxis, nicknamed "Hummingbirds," were in service in London, while in the same year 12 electric hansom cabs hit the road in New York, with the fleet reaching 62 taxis by 1898. President Woodrow Wilson and secret service agents traveled around Washington in Milburn Light Electric vehicles.
Why Did Gasoline Win?
The mechanism of the transformation is measurably clear. In 1908 the Ford Model T made the gasoline car cheap and widespread; by 1912, while a gasoline car was sold for 650 dollars, an electric roadster cost 1,750 dollars. That same year, Charles Kettering's invention of the electric starter sent the crank, the least loved feature of the gasoline car, into history. In the 1920s, the intercity road network expanded, Texas oil made gasoline cheap, and stations spread into rural areas - whereas the electricity grid was still not widespread in rural regions.
The result was a sharp break in the sales curve. Electric sales peaked in the early 1910s; the number of electric vehicles produced in 1909 had fallen to only about 4.4% of gasoline production. By 1915, market share had dropped to 5%. The trio of high cost, low top speed, and short range had mathematically closed off the competition. By 1935, electric cars had almost completely disappeared.
| Year | Indicator | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1900 | Electric share of US automobiles | 28%-38% |
| 1900 | Steam share of US automobiles | 40% |
| 1909 | Ratio of electric production to gasoline production | ~4.4% |
| 1912 | Gasoline car price | $650 |
| 1912 | Electric roadster price | $1,750 |
| 1915 | Market share of electrics | 5% |
| 1935 | Electric automobile | Almost completely disappeared |
How "Golden" Was the Golden Age? The Real Market Balance
To make the "golden age" narrative honest, it is enough to look at the era's extreme values. The Standard Electric sold in the 1910s claimed a range of 110 miles on a single charge, achieved a top speed of 20 mph, and sold for $1,785-$1,900. Los Angeles-based Beardsley Electric produced a total of 661 vehicles between 1914 and 1917; its 1916 "light town car" was priced at $1,285 - roughly $38,000 in 2025 currency. These were functioning, sold products; but each was deployed in niche markets, remaining dim next to the Model T in terms of scale.
The era also produced ideas that would be considered modern even today. The battery-swap concept dates back to 1896; Hartford Electric Light Company operated a swappable battery service between 1910 and 1924, covering more than 6 million miles, and from 1917 a similar service was provided for Milburn customers in Chicago. In New York, before World War I, 10 electric vehicle companies formed an alliance, announcing that around 2,000 vehicles in the region were in operation. Henry Ford, in 1914, explored a low-cost electric car with Thomas Edison; in 1911 the New York Times had drawn attention to the demand for electrics. So the ideas and demand existed - what won was the equation of price, infrastructure, and scale.
The Modern Version of the Myth: Are We Really at the Peak Today?
The "one-third" figure of the 1900s is a share within a small fleet; at the beginning of the 20th century, the total number of motor vehicles was negligible compared with today. Today's figures are on a completely different scale, both in absolute and relative terms. In 2024, 22% of new vehicles sold globally were electric; in Norway this rate reached 92%, and in China nearly 50%. Reading the era's myth correctly is also necessary to measure the scale of today's transformation correctly: in 1900, electric was in second place, competing against steam; today, electric is in a direct global market share race with internal combustion.
Three Rules for Reading the Myth Correctly
To test such claims in popular historical narratives, a few simple questions are enough:
- Which year? The 1900-1910 table is entirely different; the sales peak is in the early 1910s, not the share in 1900.
- Which measurement? Fleet share on the road and share of production do not say the same thing; depending on the definition, the ratio varies between 28% and 38%.
- Which geography? The one-third figure is US data; it should not be read as a global or universal share.
When passed through this filter, the claim holds up but with its nuances: in 1900, electric cars in the US really did hold a share of around one third. However, it was steam that was at its peak, this situation lasted about a decade, and against gasoline's advantages in price, starting, and infrastructure, electrics quickly fell behind. Even the true part of the legend, when read carefully, says that electrics were in fact never the leader.