Columbia Electric Landaulet

Literally a carriage without horses. The horses have been replaced by two large electric motors that drive the rear wheels via a gear ring.

Literally a carriage without horses. The horses have been replaced by two large electric motors that drive the rear wheels via a ring gear. On the box seat you can see, among other things, the driving controls and the Volt/Ampere meter. Note the particularly beautiful hand painted red pinstripes in the paintwork. Reportedly this Columbia was used in the early 20th century for VIP transport in New York City. The car was then bought by a plantation owner in South Carolina, but after only a few years it was put away because charging options in rural areas were limited. Moreover, by then the electric car had already lost the battle with the gasoline engine, mainly because the latter offered a greater range. In 1976 the Columbia was discovered in a carriage shed and subsequently restored. It is probably the only surviving car of this type. At the end of the nineteenth century the Pope Manufacturing Company from Hartford, Connecticut was the largest manufacturer of bicycles in the US. When founder Colonel Albert Pope also started building cars, he gave the electrically powered models the same brand name as his bicycles: Columbia. The brand existed until 1913.