Early Carmakers Decided Electric Cars Were Perfect for Women
When Electric Cars Were for Women
At the turn of the 20th century, electric cars competed with steam and gasoline, and their quiet, clean, easy-start operation led makers to market them to women. General Electric ran ads of stylishly dressed women plugging in their cars, and Fannie Goodnow of Boston drove a 1908 Bailey Victoria Phaeton charged by a mercury-arc rectifier. Edison's leaky early battery and the Model T ultimately doomed the effort.
Electric carmakers looking for a way to differentiate their products decided that these attributes made their vehicles perfect for women.
- whatever1
I never got any excitement from driving an electric car, with the exception of the 0-60 of the powerful ones.
But they are the smoothest commuters I have ever driven. Linear acceleration, super snappy for when you want to overtake, you never need a gas-station if have a garage.
I would take an electric over the camrys and crv’s any day.
- tbrownaw
Sounds like an example of that consumer preferences thing that I've heard called the "pink tax".
- XNORcist
Had me spooked for a sec with a title like that until I reread it.
Quieter cars that don't smell bad are definitely an improvement especially for noise pollution, but car companies didn't care at the time as they tried to make them a necessity in American life.
Also I never got the appeal of ridiculously loud cars especially ones that just end up sounding like a bad time on the toilet.
- lakeviewterrace
I don't know about fully electric, but I can reliably guess the driver of every 2012 Prius with a smashed tail light I see on the road.
- gnabgib
Gross, we had a version of this 15 years ago from Ars (0 upvotes) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3855928