Are we in drive or reverse? The truth is that sustainable technologies are nothing new.
The chain-driven safety bicycle (safer than the precarious penny-farthing) grew popular in the late 1800s.
Electric cars date back to the mid-1800s, and Philadelphia entered the EV history books towards the end of that century, when locals Henry G. Morris and Pedro G. Salom debuted their Electrobat, a battery-driven carriage intended to compete with horse-drawn taxis. The Electric Vehicle Company, founded to produce the electric taxis, had a good run before going out of business in 1907 thanks to lawsuits, poor business decisions and the success of fossil fuel cars.
More than a century later, batteries are back in force, both for public fleets and private vehicle owners.
The world desperately needs to leave internal combustion in the rearview mirror to avoid the worst global warming scenarios. We hope this transportation section gets you thinking about what we stand to gain, even as a retrograde administration does all it can to keep the country in the past, or at least in the president’s idea of it.
