Woah... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_electric_motorcycles_and_scooters
- Late 1860s: Earliest references to electric motorcycles can be found in patents.
- 1911: Electric motorcycle available according to early Popular Mechanics article.
EM History: 1911 Popular Mechanics
Many, many years ago, I recall a teacher saying that a motor meant electric motive power and engine meant internal compustion engine. He went on to say that some of the very first motorcycles where called that because they used motors and not engines. Don’t know if it’s true or not
yeah, david.
If you remember all the history bits I had compiled while on the old visforvoltage.com, I used that as the basis for adding to wikipedia. I tried to keep the list to companies that made a product and/or new achievements. Unfortunately to make the history bits more rounded, I have almost nothing on scooters.
Now there should be no reason any journalist that does any research should not at least know the history. It gets real annoying seeing "first" ev motorcycle on some of these marketing schemes or ppl who fail to research.
Do you have citations of the 1860's patents? It would be interesting to read them.
- David Herron, The Long Tail Pipe, davidherron.com, 7gen.com, What is Reiki
I dont believe I wrote the "1860" portion in wiki- someone else must have. But from the searches on google patents, I have located a 3-wheeled delta-styled cycle with the batts and motor on the rear axle like a kid's giant big-wheel and another that looks like the 1911 cycle version.
Also, on a side note, some of the rules for the original board track racing that specified the types of propulsion to exclude battery tech and steam tech.