1913 Detroit Electric Car Test Drive & Tech Specs

A very rare operational Detroit Electric Car built in 1913 - with select technical specifications

[HalfTonEnterprises]

Beautiful car. Thanks for the post and the interesting information. We have a 1914 Model 63 at the WAAAM museum in Hood River, OR USA. Some interesting differences are that we have roll up windows in the doors, only two foot pedals (right side brakes and left side locks the wheel brake and opens the cutout switch). Originally, we had the Edison battery option which we display in the front and use 8x6v golf cart batteries to operate (thus we only have 3 of the 5 speeds), we don't have the hand brake but we do have an electrical-mechanical brake on the front of the motor (activated by pulling back on the speed tiller). Your interior is great for being original. Ours was too far gone to save.. We had to rebuild much of the wooden framing and we re-upholstered it. We regularly give museum visitors rides in the DE and it's a real crowd pleaser.
I really related to the awkward reversing shown in the video. It really takes some getting used to backing with the speed tiller at 45 degrees and trying to steer as well. I've adopted the momentary bumping the speed tiller as you have.
Thanks again for showing your great car and I hope that you are enjoying it.

[donovandelaney]

It's time. Time to bring the Detroit Electric Car back into production.

[Hendo]

What a rare and gorgeous looking car. I imagine in 50 years people'll all be back to driving electrics.

[RWBHere]

Beautiful! Several of those cars still have their original Edison battery packs, in working condition. Thank-you for the video and the translation. 🙂👍

[junehanzawa]

Imagine coming from riding a carriage pulled by a horse into this a century ago? What a feeling that must have been.

[Karmy.]

Really fascinating to me that one ended up in Denmark

[stickynorth]

The controls remind me of a Streetcar lever. I love it! Funnily enough modern EV's seem hell bent on getting rid of the steering wheel for sidestick drive by wire or yokes. I also approve. While it may feel like having a huge wheel in front of us is a good thing it's still one of the most deadly things in a car when it crashes... I'd rather use a joystick or something similar for safety reasons alone! Very cool video!

[markpirola]

200 Km range. Impressive. What would the original battery chemistry have realised?

[seivaDsugnA]

Let's all get one and hooligan around together.

[canadianmike]

In the olden day when you drove a car without a license. Over a century ago

[Modeltnick]

Someone bought the name from the original family with the intent of building a modern electric car with the Detroit Electric name. Prototype cars were built and nothing more was done.

[franksayre]

Current EV and hybrid sales in China are over 50% of the market. No kidding.

[donovandelaney]

There's no such thing as allegedly.