the.com/electric car
A computer that happens to have seats, wheels, and your undivided anxiety about range.
means A car powered by electricity stored in a battery and driven by an electric motor instead of an internal combustion engine burning gasoline or diesel.
from Both halves are compounds, not coinages. 'Electric' traces back to Greek 'elektron,' meaning amber — because ancient Greeks noticed that rubbing amber with cloth made it attract light objects, and the word for the fossilized resin got borrowed centuries later for the mysterious force itself. 'Car' descends from Latin 'carrus,' a Celtic-rooted word for a wheeled vehicle, via Old North French 'carre.' Electric cars themselves aren't new — they were genuinely popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s, before gasoline engines and cheap oil pushed them aside for most of the 20th century.
- origin story
- Outsold gas cars in 1900, then lost for a century
- secret weapon
- Instant torque makes minivans embarrass sports cars
- real cost
- Battery, not the car, is the expensive part
- maintenance truth
- No oil changes, but tires vanish faster than usual