Timeline of electric vehicles

The following is a timeline of electric vehicles, including cars, bicycles, aircraft and watercraft.

19th century

1875

• World's first electric tram line operated in Sestroretsk near Saint Petersburg, Russia, invented and tested by Fyodor Pirotsky. ^{[1] [2]}

1880s

• Immisch & Co, established by Moritz Immisch, establishes a electric boat department - probably the world's first fleet of electric launches for hire, with a chain of electrical charging stations established along the River Thames.

1881

• World's first commercially successful electric tram, the Gross-Lichterfelde tramway in Lichterfelde near Berlin in Germany built by Werner von Siemens who contacted Pirotsky. It initially drew current from the rails, with overhead wire being installed in 1883.

1882

• The trolleybus dates back to 29 April 1882, when Dr. Ernst Werner Siemens demonstrated his "Elektromote" in a Berlin suburb. This experiment continued until 13 June 1882.
• Anthony Reckenzaun designs the first significant electric launch driven by storage batteries, and names the boat Electricity. ^[3]

1883

• Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram, Vienna, Austria, first electric tram powered by overhead wire.

1884

• Thomas Parker built an electric car in Wolverhampton using his own specially designed high-capacity rechargeable batteries.

1888

• 8 September: Peral, the first successful submarine to be entirely powered by electric batteries and the first fully military-capable submarine, is launched. ^[4]

20th century

1970s

1973

• 23 October: first crewed free flight by an electrically powered aeroplane, the MB-E1 (9 minutes)

1974

• AstroFlight Sunrise makes maiden flight, first aircraft to fly on solar power. ^[5]

1979

• The Mauro Solar Riser becomes the first crewed aircraft to fly on solar power. ^{[6] [7]}

1990s

1996

• December: Launch of the limited production General Motors EV1 ^{[8] [9]}

1997

• Toyota RAV4 EV becomes first plug-in electric production SUV. Leases are mostly restricted to governments and businesses in California. ^[10]
• Toyota Prius becomes the first mass-produced hybrid vehicle. ^[11]

1998

• Launch of Nissan Altra EV, becoming the first highway legal electric car to use lithium-ion batteries ^{[12] [13]}

21st century

2000s

2003

• first certificate of airworthiness for an electric powered aircraft was granted to the Lange Antares 20E. ^[14]

2008

• Tesla Roadster becomes the first highway legal, serial production, all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells, and the first production all-electric car with a range of more than 200 miles (320 km) per charge. ^[15]

2009

• July: Launch of the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, the first modern highway legal series production electric car ^[16]

2010s

2010

• 8 July: Solar Impulse 1 achieves the world's first manned 26-hour solar-powered flight, as well as the longest and highest ever flown by a manned solar-powered aircraft. ^{[17] [18] [19]}
• December: Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt deliveries began ^[20]

2011

• The Nissan Leaf passed the Mitsubishi i MiEV as the world's all-time best selling all-electric car ^[21]
• Taurus Electro G2 becomes the first two-seat electric aircraft to have achieved series production. ^{[22] [23]}

2012

• June:
  • Solar Impulse 1 achieves first intercontinental flight by a solar aircraft, flying from Madrid, Spain to Rabat, Morocco. ^{[24] [25]}
  • Launch of the Tesla Model S ^[26]

2014

• March: 1% of all cars in use in Norway are plug-ins ^[27]
• first production-model all-electric school bus was delivered ^[28] to the Kings Canyon Unified School District in California's San Joaquin Valley

2015

• 3 July: Solar Impulse 2 lands in Hawaii on 3 July, setting new records for the world's longest solar-powered flight both by time (117 hours, 52 minutes) and distance (7,212 km; 4,481 mi). The flight's duration was also a record for longest solo flight, by time, for any aircraft. ^{[29] [30] [31]}
• September: Cumulative global plug-in sales passed 1 million units. ^[32]

2016

• June 20-23: Solar Impulse 2 makes the first non-stop solar-powered transatlantic flight ^[33]
• July: Solar Impulse 2 lands in Abu Dhabi, completing circumnavigation of the world
• November: Global all-electric car/van sales passed 1 million. ^[34]
• December:
  • Cumulative global plug-in sales passed 2 million units ^[35]
  • 5% of passenger cars on Norwegian roads are plug-ins ^[36]

2017

• Early: 1 millionth domestic new energy car sold in China ^{[37] [38]}
• July: Launch of the Tesla Model 3 ^[39]
• November: Cumulative global plug-in sales passed 3 million units ^[40]
• December:
  • Annual global sales passed the 1 million unit mark ^[41]
  • 5% of all cars in use in Norway are all-electric. ^[42]
  • Annual global market share passed 1% for the first time ^[43]

2018

• First half: 1 millionth plug-in electric car sold in Europe ^[44]
• September:
  • 1 millionth plug-in electric car sold in the U.S. ^[45]
  • 2 millionth new energy vehicle sold in China (includes heavy-duty commercial vehicles) ^[46]
• October: 10% of passenger cars on Norwegian roads are plug-ins ^[47]
• November: 500,000th plug-in car sold in California ^[48]
• December:
  • Annual global sales passed the 2 million unit mark ^{[49] [50]}
  • Tesla Model 3 becomes first plug-in to exceed 100,000 sales in a single year ^[51]

2019

• December: One out of two new passenger cars registered in Norway in 2019 was a plug-in electric car ^[52]

2020s

2020

• Early: The Tesla Model 3 surpassed the Nissan Leaf as the world's best selling plug-in electric car in history ^[53]
• March:
  • The Tesla Model 3 is the first electric car to sell more than 500,000 units since inception. ^[54]
  • Tesla, Inc. becomes the first auto manufacturer to produce 1 million electric cars ^[55]
• April: 10% of all cars on the road in Norway are all-electric ^[56]
• June: the Velis Electro variant of the two-seat Pipistrel Virus was the first electric aircraft to secure type certification, from the EASA ^[57]
• December:
  • Nissan Leaf global sales reached 500,000 units. ^[58]
  • Cumulative global plug-in car sales passed the 10 million unit milestone ^[59]
  • The Norwegian plug-in car segment achieved a record annual market share of 74.7% of new car sales. ^[60]
  • Over 15% of all cars on Norwegian roads are plug-in electric. ^[61]

2021

• September: Rivian R1T becomes the first plug-in electric production pickup truck. ^[62]

2022

• May: Cumulative global plug-in car sales passed the 20 million unit milestone ^[63]

2023

• January: EV cars surpass 10% in global market share ^[64]
• May: Tesla Model Y becomes the world's best selling vehicle ^[65]

2025

• June: Kyle Clark, the founder and CEO of the Burlington, Vermont-based company BETA Technologies, piloted the Alia CX300 to the John F. Kennedy International Airport tarmack, concluding a 45-minute, 72-nautical mile-flight that took off from East Hampton, accomplishing the first-ever passenger flight of an electric-powered plane in North America. ^{[66] [67]}

References

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3. Illustrated with wood engravings in the Electrical Review, Vol.XI, No.255, 14 October 1882, pp.296 and 297
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