An English man called Robert Davidson who manufactured electric
vehicles for practical use first produced electric vehicles in 1873.
Electric vehicle's retention peak in the United States was around
1900. The total numbers of cars manufactured in the United States
were about 4,000 and 40% of these were electric vehicles at that time.
Electric vehicles were also the star cars of car races. However, electric
vehicles became less popular because of the development of internal
combustion engine vehicle.
In Japan, the first electric vehicle was imported at the end of the
Meiji period (1868-1912), and the Japan Automotive Co., Ltd. started
manufacturing trials of electric vehicles. After the Second World
War of 1949, there was a resurgence of interest in electric vehicles
caused by gasoline rationing and diffuse 3,299 units were manufactured
in 1949. This was 3% of the total number of vehicles
manufactured. However as gasoline supplies eased, electric vehicles
once again become shadow in hidden. Interest in there, electric vehicle
development took off again in 1960 as a result of the severe air pollution
caused by the increasing of motorization. The Ministry of International
Trade and Industry technique course began a large project in 1971
and Japanese electric vehicle technique was improved. The Japan Electric
Vehicle Association was established in 1976, to lead popularizes electric
vehicles. Since 1980, however there has been a lot of progress in
work on the internal combustion engine to make exhaust emissions cleaner
gas purification technique of internal combustion engine. Nevertheless,
in the 1990s the public became more and more aware of nuisance and
global warming and problems with noise pollution caused by increasing
motorization. California enacted the ZEV (zero emissions vehicle)
regulations and restarted development of electric vehicles. In 1996,
a new type of electric vehicle (the so-called the second-generation
electric vehicle) was produced which that had significantly improved
performance compared with the first generation. But, it was still
very expensive, so sales were low and mass production was out of question.
Hybrid vehicles went on sale in 1997. Compared to the cost of electric
vehicles, these were much lower and proved more popular. Twice as
many hybrid vehicles were sold than were anticipated in the first
six months of sales. Side by side with the success of hybrid vehicles,
the development of electric vehicles suddenly becomes prosperously
in worldwide.
Expanding the application of electric vehicles activity, a number
of car-sharing projects have been started in these days. These projects
use small electric vehicles and combine with ITS (the Intelligent
Transport System). In France, rentals of electric vehicles called
"Prakisitell" began in October 1997. Honda has started test
of its ICVS (Intelligent Community Vehicle System) since 1998 and
validates test in Yokohama City and Inashiro City has started in 1999.
Reference
Book title: EV Handbook
Written by: EV Handbook Publisher's Group
Published by: Maruzen Co., Ltd. (URL http://www.maruzen.co.jp)
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