First victory, then defeat
Around 1900 a third of the cars in the US were electric. They were quiet and did not need to be started with a hand crank. But cheap oil, the electric starter and the Ford Model T pushed them out.
The comeback
Tesla showed that an electric car could be fast and have a range of hundreds of kilometres. The key was the lithium batteries used in laptops. Today every major carmaker builds electric cars, and the Chinese competition is strong too.
In Slovakia
Electric models from several brands are made in Slovakia. The company InoBat is developing batteries and building a factory near Šurany. The charging network is growing. At home, the cheapest way to charge is from your own wallbox, ideally combined with solar panels.