In 1900, the electric car was the most popular automobile on the American road but soon fell behind internal-combustion models among customers. As Dan Albert points out in Are We There Yet?, the early electrics could travel 40 miles on a single charge and attain (but not sustain) high speeds. Another startling fact from that era: one electric car company leased and rented vehicles and even offered a pay-by-the-mile plan.
But with Henry Ford behind the wheel and Model Ts rolling off his assembly line, electric cars, according to Albert, provided “neither the thrill nor danger” of internal combustion engines or the greasy thrill of getting under the hood. Have we gotten past that level of evolution? In his chapter “Kids Today,” Albert records the younger generation’s declining interest in owning cars. With the wit characterizing Are We There Yet?, Albert wonders whether kids today “have less interest in the original mobile device”—the car—“because they feel transported by their new mobile devices.” Let’s check back in 10 years.
