Jay Leno's Baker Electric Car
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN brings it up in electric vehicle threads as proof that electric cars date back over a century, with Leno an entertaining guide.
What it is
Jay Leno takes a host for a spin in his restored 1909 Baker Electric car on My Classic Car. It shows an early electric vehicle and what driving one is like.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2018 to 2022.
What Hacker News said
Recommends jazzyjackson · 2022-03 · on “The cold hard truth about electric vehicles in winter”
In 1909, there were thousands of Baker Electric cars cruising the streets of NYC quietly and at 35mph. You didn’t need to go much faster inside the city. 100 miles to a charge, good old fully recyclable glass lead acid batteries. Gasoline vehicles eventually outcompeted them by reaching 60mph and having more range (sound familiar?) but the parent isn’t wrong about Rockefeller, cheap and abundant fuel came 2 years later: > …growing electrification of lighting produced a drop in kerosene demand, creating a supply problem. It appeared that the burgeoning oil industry would be trapped into over-producing kerosene and under-producing gasoline since simple distillation could not alter the ratio of
Cites ZeroGravitas · 2018-01 · on “Worked for 52 Years, Still Running: 1912 C-T 4WD Electric Truck”
Jay Leno (tv host and car enthusiast) has a few very old electric cars in his collection. In one video (link at the end) he talks about how he and his wife drove one of the electric cars down to a fancy hotel. They expected to be a surprising and exotic sight, but one of the bellhops asked them if they knew Mrs X, who had been driving to the hotel for 5 or six decades until 2001 in her similar electric car. [this video]
Cites Bayart · 2020-09 · on “Ami, a tiny cube on wheels that French 14-year-olds can drive”
I find it surprisingly, and interestingly, similar to the first wave of electric cars, over a hundred years ago, such as the Baker [1]. They were small, didn't require much mechanical insight (as EVs do) and particularly suited for small drives to the grocery store. [1] [this video]