Back to the Future in a 98-Year-Old Electric Car

I came across an interesting article in the New York Times website dating back about a year ago.  It’s a feature about Jay Leno’s 1909 Baker Electric…  yes, that’s right… an electric car that is almost 100 years old.  It had a range of about 100 miles at approximately 25mph.  Check out the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/automobiles/05BAKER.html?pagewanted=all

Imagine how much better hybrid or electric automobiles would be today if the technology was the focus of automobile development rather than the internal combustion engine.  The batteries used were invented by Thomas Edison, and were reusable INDEFINITELY.  No need to throw them out and buy new batteries…  just rinse them out and replace the alkaline.  Jay Leno stated that he regularly uses the ORIGINAL Edison alkaline batteries regularly.

If you would like to see this thing in action… check out this video from Jay Leno’s Garage:

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/video_player.shtml?vid=187711