Wires to Wheels

An Italian physicist puts paper and acid together and makes lightning. A Dutch genius builds a motorized model. A Belgian daredevil breaks a land-speed record. A Canadian lawyer wants a slick new ride. This is the story of the electric car.

The electric car has been around for much longer than most of us realize; its roots in Canada date back to the 19th century. Discover the history of electric vehicles, from early experimenters to the electric boom years before the First World War, the dominance of gasoline in the 1940s and 50s, the alternative-energy revival of the 1970s, and the new reality of electrics on our roads.