Funny thing is...they had ev is the early 1900's. Videos are there on youtube, rumble, etc. The earliest evs had a huge range, compared to today. Standard typical saltwater batteries or good old fashioned acid batteries. Both got 3 or 4 times the range of todays evs. Also, never have I ever read or seen a old style typical battery catch fire and/or explode no matter what the reason. Especially water!
My uncle has a popular mechanics magazine in his collection that had a really good article about technology and how the big corporations hide it from us and release it slowly to maximize profits.
Profits over people! Lol!
Anyway the article was in Toronto where a man bought a cadillac for his wife. Only after many many days the gas gauge barely moved. Then another week it was at lower but not where it should be. Concerned there was something wrong with the gauge he took it back to the dealer to have it looked at. After checking it and testing it, nothing was wrong. Except 1 thing. It was accidentally sold. It was a testing vehicle that somehow ended up in a showroom.
The car, like almost all cars of that time had 5L V-8's, and you know those cars weight 10 tons (Lol), yet it was getting 100 milers per gallon. 107 was the exact number.
The dealer offered the the man a deal, exchange the car and they would give him a new caddy every 5 years for life. It had to be a deal because there was a legimate bill of sale matching the description, registration. So even though it was a tester, it was sold and legally they could not take it back. The man took the deal.
It is just another example of big corps screwing over us little people. They have been doing it with cars, electronics, electricity, water, etc, etc, etc.