Electric vehicles were as mainstream as petrol-motor automobiles until at least 1911 when the electric starter was invented. Steam-powered automobiles were first, and petrol-motor vehicles appeared in the late 1880s. Electric vehicles appeared first in the early 1880s. Studebaker sold electric cars (1902) before petrol-motor ones (1904). All reports I've seen indicate that these three (steam, electric, petrol) were relatively equally represented in the early days of the automobile.
I suppose that one could argue that no automobiles were "mainstream" at all due to affordability until the Ford Model T (1908) which was a petrol-motor car, of course. Once the electric starter was added to the petrol motor there was very little market for anything else.
I had a very similar experience on Boxing Day last year. The very first time I had a round trip of 70 miles.
I thought the car would do the entire trip without needing a charge, on the way home I have to turn off the heating wiping the windscreen and end up crawling home. It's a rite of passage we all have to go through.
Almost a year on and I'm much wiser about my driving and where I need to charge and how often.
OK... It seems I may have been too optimistic... After this week's storm, the temperature has dropped and it has been raining. That and the wind has taken it's toll on my range. Today and yesterday I found myself needing to get a quick charge where I had expected to make it without charging.
Still, the total range would still have been more than 70 miles. More like 85 miles instead of 95-100 miles when it was warm and relatively windless.
Edit:
So, today the wind has eased, no more rain, but still in the lower teens. Range is back up to 95-100 miles.
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