Henry Ford's Wife Choose Detroit Electric Over Ford Model T

1914 Detroit Electric

As TIME magazine recently wrote:

"Girls dig electric cars. At least that was the marketing message back in 1915, when petrol-powered autos were beginning to decisively pull away from electric ones. Battery-powered vehicles retained popularity among female drivers in cities, who valued them for their reliability — they wouldn't blow up, as gas cars were known to do on occasion — and ease of use."

"Clara Ford, wife of Henry, whose Model T all but decimated the electric car, drove a 1914 Detroit Electric. (What her husband made of the fact that she wasn't driving a Ford is lost to history.) The Detroit models could run 80 miles on a single charge, with a top speed of about 20 mph. Pokey, but this was before the age of Danica Patrick."

Apparently, Clara Ford knew what Henry Ford didn't: electric vehicles were and still are more reliable than gas automobiles.  Clara couldn't risk a break down, so electric it was.  Today, we'd prefer to avoid a break down, so electric it is.  Times may have changed the automotive landscape, but the truths that applied to electric vehicles a century ago still apply today.


1914 Ford Model T

Source: Inside EVs  + TIME