Why Did Early Carmakers Build Electric Cars Specifically for Women?

The Market That Chose Electric

In 1898 there were about 50 carmakers in the United States. A decade later that number had increased fivefold. Production rose from 7,000 vehicles in 1901 to 181,000 in 1910. Steam carried the legacy of locomotive technology but brought fire risk and extreme heat depending on boiler placement. Gasoline engines required a hand crank before the electric starter arrived in 1911. They were loud and emitted noxious fumes.

Electric vehicles started with a key turn of the main battery switch. No foul exhaust appeared. General Electric built chargers based on mercury-arc rectifiers. The company created advertisements showing stylishly dressed women plugging in their cars. Doctors were also targeted for night house calls without waking neighbors.

The Charger That Glowed

Peter Cooper Hewitt invented the mercury vapor lamp. That lamp became the basis for the mercury-arc rectifier. Percy H. Thomas received U.S. patents 968,896 and 1,163,706 advancing Hewitt's designs. Thomas was chief electrician for the Cooper Hewitt Electric Co. The rectifier functioned as a diode. It converted alternating current from the grid into direct current for the battery. Liquid mercury in a glass tube vaporized and glowed as electricity passed. Coupled with carbon anodes the vapor allowed current flow in only one direction.

A full charge of a drained battery took about 12 hours.

The Carriage Maker Who Pivoted

Samuel Robinson Bailey started in the carriage business as a teenager. He won a best-in-show prize at a carriage exhibition in Portland, Maine, in 1855. He went into business for himself in 1882. A gold medal followed at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. His son Edwin likely saw the Morrison electric wagon there. Automobiles soon ate into the carriage trade. In December 1906 S.R. Bailey & Co. announced electric vehicles. The first model, the Victoria Phaeton, used an Edison alkaline battery. Edison had announced it with fanfare in 1903. It leaked and would not hold a charge. By 1910 Edison had a better battery but Henry Ford had introduced the Model T. Bailey switched to Gould Storage Battery Co. of Depew, N.Y. Gould also supplied railroads, utilities, subways, elevators, and farms.

Fannie Goodnow's Car

Fannie Goodnow owned a 1908 Bailey Victoria Phaeton. It was an open two-seater that looked like a horseless carriage. Her car used a 30-cell lead-acid battery housed in a wooden box suspended under the chassis. The standard battery delivered a range of 64 to 80 kilometers. A larger battery with 50 percent more capacity was available for an upcharge. The Victoria Phaeton cost US $2,000. That equals about $73,000 today, roughly the list price of an upscale EV like the Audi Q8 or BMW i5.

Goodnow installed a mercury-arc rectifier charging station in the barn beside her parents' summer home in Hull, Mass. The charging plug was of an unusual design. Nonstandardized plugs and cables plagued early adopters. The Electric Vehicle Association of America formed in 1910 and tried to set a standard. Savvy owners carried spare plug adapters and cables when traveling.

The Publicity Run and the End

When Edison's improved battery arrived Bailey launched a publicity blitz. In September 1910 the company sponsored a round-trip tour from New York to Boston with a side trip up Mount Washington totaling about 1,600 km. Edison posed for a photo with the new Bailey Victoria Phaeton. He himself chose a Detroit Electric Victoria for personal use. Edison was known to be a terrible driver so someone else likely chauffeured him. Unable to compete against the rising tide of Model Ts S.R. Bailey sold its factory in 1915. The company had produced about 500 to 600 electric vehicles.

Goodnow's charging station remained in place until 2022 when it was donated to Heritage Museums & Gardens in Sandwich, Mass. Her Victoria Phaeton has been lost to history. How many of these cars survived in private hands the article does not say.