The electric land speed record

The electric car's credentials were once impeccable in all these areas, but the spin of a century-old industry selling pollution-producing, petrol-engine vehicles will need a bit of revision.

Most automotive history begins with the invention of the combustion-engine car back in the 1880s. Ask almost anyone who made the world's first car and they'll tell you it was Karl Benz in 1886 with the three-wheeled Motorwagen. Electric vehicles date back to the 1830s, and until 1912-15, were a serious competitor for the petrol-engine car.

The leading manufacturer of electric vehicles in the world at that stage was the Baker Motor Vehicle Company, started by Walter C. Baker in 1898. Indeed, the company still sands as the largest producer of electric vehicles in history, despite ceasing business in 1916.

The Baker Motor Vehicle Company displayed the first shaft-driven auto at the first US automobile show in Madison Square Garden and Baker sold his first electric car to Thomas A. Edison himself. Edison believed that electric cars would eventually win out over their petrol-engine competition. Other early purchasers of the Baker included the King of Siam.

Baker electric vehicles were much cleaner and quieter than petrol-engine cars - though the major negative was their limited range of around 100 kilometres.

In its final form, the Baker Electric had a top speed of 23 mph and a range of 160 miles, but in the end it failed to secure market acceptance.

Baker's incredible foresight deserves a place in automotive history. He was one of the founders of the progressive Cleveland Automobile Club, and the go-ahead committee recognised a number of trends early and positioned the CAV as the most progressive auto association in the world. It opened one of the first travel agencies in America and was the first organisation in the US to use radios to despatch emergency road service vehicles.

Baker's vehicles were very popular, and like most manufacturers of the day, he was heavily involved in demonstrating the virtues of his car in speed and reliability trials.

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