What was the first electric car? As the EV renaissance rages, a look back at early models.

Hardly a modern invention, the electric car has a history tracing back all the way to the mid-1800s. Interest in technology has boomeranged over the years based on both consumer trends and economic conditions.

In the mid-1900s, when gas was cheap and climate change was not yet widely acknowledged, electric cars were less popular than they had been at the turn of the century. As the '60s and '70s rolled in, however, and gas prices rose, EVs were primed for another renaissance.

Now, as worry over impending climate disaster grows, electric vehicles are once again popular and more widely available. Here's a look back at the inventors that got us here.

When was the first electric car made?

The first "crude" electric vehicle burst on the scene way back in 1832, according to the Department of Energy. It took forty years, however, for electric cars to find practical use.

Robert Anderson, an inventor in the UK, was responsible for that 1832 vehicle. The first successful model in the U.S., however, was made by Iowa native William Morrison in 1891. His invention was also bare bones but it did begin to drum up wider interest in the technology and its possibilities for the future of transportation.

What was the first electric car?

The Department of Energy characterizes the first successful electric car in the U.S. as a mere "electrified wagon." It could travel just 14 miles per hour.

The first hybrid-electric car does carry a weighty name, however: Porsche. In 1901 Ferdinand Porsche created the Lohner-Porsche Mixte, powered by both battery and gas.

Who made the first modern electric car?

Though early EV models date back to the early 1800s, many of the models could drive neither far nor fast enough to be considered commercially viable. It wasn't until 1894 that one such invention came about, Car and Driver, a popular automotive magazine reports.

That was the year Philadelphia natives Pedro Salom and Henry G. Morris patented their Electrobat EV technology, which eventually powered over 600 cabs in New York City.

What was the first electric car sold in the US?

The first hybrid-electric car commercially available in the U.S. was the Honda Insight. Though the Prius was more high profile based in part on celebrity interest, the Insight was available domestically first. It was released in 1999, a year before the Prius arrived in the U.S.

When was the first electric car mass-produced?

Toyota was the first mass-produced hybrid vehicle in the U.S. Released in Japan in 1997, the Prius went global just three years later and became a roaring success.

Another first? The Chevy Volt. In 2010, the vehicle became the first commercially available plug-in hybrid car.

When did the first Tesla come out?

Before Elon Musk was making headlines as tweeter-in-chief, he was investing in a small silicon valley start-up pushing boundaries in the EV market.

In 2006 Tesla Motors announced that it would begin producing luxury electric sports cars that could travel over 200 miles on a single charge. In the decade since then, Tesla has become a titan in the industry, pushing other manufacturers to amp up their EV development.

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