The Unofficial History of the Electric Car: Finding a place to charge up

In the first installment in the Unofficial History of Electric and Hybrid Cars, we looked at early charging stations, where we learned that General Electric had sold over 12,000 charging stations by 1914 and that, in addition to home chargers, they also offered commercial units for parking garages.

It turns out that GE sold quite a few "Public Garage Type Rectifiers" and that in the early days of the automobile most electric car owners didn't charge their cars at home, but instead at a charging garage. It was in many ways a practical solution. In addition to eliminating the need to buy a charger (most EV makers did not sell chargers with their cars), not everyone had a garage to store their newfangled automobile. Not all city residents owned horses and not all who owned horses had a carriage house. Electric cars were marketed, because of their limited range, primarily as town cars.

Just as city residents without carriage houses had their horses and buggies kept at livery stables, as electric cars owners would store them overnight at a public charging garage. Service, maintenance or repairs needed could also be done while the car was charging.

Standard-setting
The Detroit Electric, produced by the Anderson Carriage company, was the best selling early EV. As a matter of fact it won't be until sometime this year that the number of Nissan Leafs sold will surpass Detroit Electric production. As a result of their product's popularity, Anderson/Detroit Electric was able to establish their proprietary coaxial 100 amp charging connector as an industry standard.

It's interesting that early EV makers were able to settle on a single standard, working through the National Electric Lighting Association, an electrical trade group. Japanese EV makers and the Society of Automotive Engineers are currently fighting over which fast DC charging connector will be standard. Nissan and other Japanese companies are promoting the CHAdeMO plug, developed by TEPCO, the Tokyo Electric Power Company. The SAE has settled on the J1772 standard connector which includes both a fast DC charging connector and an AC connector for standard slow charging.

General Electric's mercury arc rectifier charger apparently came equipped with a Detroit Electric charging connector, and Baker, Milburn and other EV makers besides Detroit Electric adopted it as their standard as well, so if you drove a popular brand of electric car you could probably get it charged at a public charging garage.

Charging up the Motor City
It's difficult to determine if they had them in other cities, or if other manufacturers like Baker and Columbia had their own charging garages, but Detroit Electric operated a trio of charging garages in Detroit. With an electric car's limited range, Detroit Electric most likely didn't want their customers wasting range on driving miles to the nearest charging garage, so they were located conveniently.

In Detroit, one was downtown on Woodward, part of the company's factory showroom facility, where you could also buy replacement batteries and get your car serviced.

Electric cars were not cheap - a Detroit electric in 1914 cost $2,650 - more than four times the price of a Model T. The optional Edison Nickel Iron batteries, which we'll cover later, by themselves cost as much as the $600 Model T.

So Detroit Electric's other two charging garages were located in fashionable neighborhoods. One was on Clairmount, near the city's Boston-Edison distict, where Henry Ford lived. Perhaps Clara Ford had her own Detroit Electric charged at that charging garage. Over on the east side, the wealthy folks living on East Grand Blvd, or in one of the large homes on the canals by the river, could charge their cars at Detroit Electric's garage just off of Jefferson, right across from Belle Isle, the river park where the Detroit Grand Prix is now held. Also, people who lived in other parts of the city could take an excursion to Belle Isle, park their electric car at the charging station and not have to worry about having enough of a charge to get home.

That charging garage still stands. Built in 1909 by Anderson/Detroit Electric, and designed by the Detroit architectural firm of Wildner & Eisen, it's been used by a variety of businesses after Detroit Electric went out of business. Currently it's owned by Prop Art Studios, a company that makes theatrical, commercial and street art. If you've ever watched the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup playoffs, the giant octopus that hangs from the rafters at Joe Louis arena was made by Prop Art. While I was there, they were working on a number of larger than life size fiberglass lions that will be installed as street art and used for philanthropy. There are still some old electrical supply panels that line one of the walls, no longer used, but Michael Stapleton, who runs Prop Art, had a vintage EV expert check them out and they date to the 1940s or 1950s so they weren't in use when it was a charging garage.

Stapleton and his employees have a great appreciation for the history of the building. He decided specifically to locate his company in Detroit and the fact that the building has some genuine Motor City automotive provenance appeals to him. Stapleton is a bit of a car guy himself. Lining the walls of his workshop are large signs that they've made for Ford, Buick, and Aston Martin for auto shows and corporate events.

I suppose it'd be a nice wrapped-in-a-ribbon and tied-with-a-bow ending if Stapleton drove a Chevy Volt or some other hybrid or EV, but on the driveway outside the old charging station was a GM SUV.


It's kind of hard to fit a giant octopus in a Prius.

This article is the second in an occasional series. Find the first article here.