Amazing: Local guy bets he can get 72+ mile range in his EV

Amazing story:
We know in the early days of EVs, a Leaf got 73 miles range, so getting 72 miles in an early EV of another brand should be possible, although the first Smart Fortwo EVs only got 68 miles. Early EVs might not get great range, and this local guy who bets his friends about his EV range, had an early EV.

Oliver was the local guy who bet his friends, one of whom was a braggart who had a Model S, that he could go over 72 miles on one charge in his non-Tesla EV.
His friend with the Model S, known for it's hefty range, would pace him on a trip to make sure he was safe and could make it.

Oliver would prove, successfully, that his EV not only did the Denver to Palmer Lake (Colorado) trip of 72 miles, but could make it all the way up to 105 miles!!! Oliver knew, because he had the battery patent he was using in his EV.

Couple more things to add: The year was 1907, and his friend had a Model S Oldsmobile ICE car (oh, did you think I meant Tesla when you read that above?). http://digital.auraria.edu/content/AA/00/00/16/79/00001/AA00001679_00001.pdf Search for the word Oliver in the document.

Proving that people who own a Model S have been trying to range shame other drivers for over a 100 years now.

Nice slice of history, was very interesting to read. I know a while back, someone here posted about doing over 200 miles in one charge in the Gen 1 Leaf (with the 24 kWh battery) by driving under 20 MPH, so be careful with the bets you make in life if you don't understand all the details of the bet. :mrgreen:

There was also https://www.edmunds.com/nissan/leaf/2011/long-term-road-test/2011-nissan-leaf-driving-it-to-the-bitter-end.html where they drove the 73 mile EPA rated '11 Leaf to exactly 132.0 miles (at 35 mph) until the car stopped.

https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=7022 has folks who have beaten that, but driving even slower.

The gen1 LEAF has a huge advantage and that is the power monitor so you can see if you are regenerating or using engine power or coasting. This same power monitor in one form or another is in many EVs and in the Prius. This feedback allows one to do a lot of fiddling to get a lot more range other than simply driving at lower speed. I don't recall seeing such a power monitor before the Prius (which is now 20 years old), so basically anything older than 20 it takes a special kind of attention. I never sat in an EV 1 not sure if that had this power monitor I am talking about.

My Mom had a 1986 T-Bird that had an instant MPG meter that worked much the same way. No regeneration, of course, but coasting in the right circumstances would have it showing 99MPG or more. It probably used engine vacuum as the data source, although since it had throttle body fuel injection it may have used the little computer for that, instead.

Oliver went low speed too. Helps range, far less wind drag. Accounts were, when Molly Brown bought one, she said she could go 25 mph tops. That helped his range. His lead-acid batteries were heavy, but incredible he was able to build an EV with decent efficiency way back then. !!!

I hike a trail up Lookout Mountain (Golden, Colorado, near Denver) where Oliver Fritchle actually ascended & descended, before the present day Lookout Mountain switchback road was built where cars go up today.



Oliver had regen on is early EV. They understood quite a bit back then. Modern era I guess!