Electric motor

In 1835, Thomas Davenport, a blacksmith from Vermont, operated a small model car on a section of track with a diameter of about one meter (3.3 feet). Even though that failed to inspire widespread interest in hindsight it was a global sensation because Davenport built the first electric car. In 1837, he secured the first patent for an electric motor worldwide. Ever since then, engineers have been thinking about ways in which electric power can move people from A to B – long before the first internal combustion engine. When Austrian electrical engineer Nikola Tesla invented the AC motor in 1882 electric power finally seemed to have become the mobility solution in terms of the powertrain. The German Flocken Elektrowagen from 1888 is regarded as the world’s first electric car. Around 1900, 40 percent of the automobiles in the United States were steam-powered cars, 38 percent were electric cars and 22 percent were gasoline-powered cars that had to be refueled from bottles bought in pharmacies. Shortly before the beginning of the First World War the tides turned in favor of the internal combustion engine. The first fuel pumps considerably simplified refueling, and assembly line production introduced by Henry Ford made cars with IC engines clearly more affordable than their battery-powered competitors. The rest is automotive history, but now it’s becoming increasingly clear that the tides are turning again in favor of the electric vehicle. Experts at Schaeffler expect that in 2035 “only” about 15 percent of all newly registered cars will be powered exclusively by internal combustion engines worldwide.