Is Elon Musk reinventing the wheel?

If you spend any amount of time on social media, it is almost impossible to ignore Elon Musk. At the end of October, the business magnate finally completed a $44 billion (€41.73 billion) deal to buy Twitter and take the company private.

Musk’s abrasive style and penchant for the spotlight has been central to his journey from the son of an African emerald mine owner to the richest person in the world. That career has spanned the dotcom boom of the late 1990s, where he made a fortune in companies including Zip2 and PayPal, to the spaceflight firm SpaceX.

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But most central to Musk’s wealth is his shareholding in electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla. Between stockholding and options, he owns almost a quarter of the company for a total value of about $122 billion, more than half of his estimated net worth of $200 billion. A single per cent change in Tesla’s share price moves his worth by roughly $1.2 billion. Musk’s predecessor as the wealthiest person, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, has an estimated net worth of $120 billion.

At Tesla, Musk’s official title is “technoking”, and he has cultivated an image as an engineering visionary. Yet while the Tesla brand is associated with pioneering a new, modern type of transport, there is a sense in which it is reinventing the wheel. In fact, the earliest cars were electric, and the internal combustion engines that power the majority of Irish cars today were less common then and did not become standard until the 1920s.

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Ironically, it was Charles Kettering’s electric self-starter, made possible by battery power, that allowed the internal combustion engine to supersede the electric motor

Throughout the early decades of the 19th century, there was a vast interest in the possibilities of electricity. Inventors such as Ányos Jedlik and Robert Anderson developed electric motors that could drive small carriages, while others experimented with electrified rails and crude single-use batteries to drive train carriages.

But it was the rechargeable lead-acid battery, pioneered by Gaston Planté in 1859 and refined by Camille Alphonse Faure in 1881, that made mass-produced electric cars viable. Electric motors had several advantages over steam and petrol, the two most popular rival power sources.

Steam engines could take a considerable amount of time to start, especially in cold weather, while petrol engines needed to be vigorously hand-cranked to get going. Because they relied on combustion, they also produced large amounts of exhaust gases, smells and noise. Electric motors by contrast were quick to start, quiet and low polluting, and had far fewer moving parts, making them more reliable.

Electric cars were the choice of early auto racers, with Camille Jenatzy’s Jamais Contente the first to break the 100km per hour barrier in 1899. The following year, 4,192 cars were produced in the United States, 28 per cent of them powered by electricity, and by 1912 there were 34,000 electric cars registered in the country.

However, as road infrastructure improved people began to make longer journeys, and the limited range of electrical vehicles became a drawback. Ironically, it was Charles Kettering’s electric self-starter, made possible by battery power, that allowed the internal combustion engine to supersede the electric motor. This key-operated device allowed petrol engines to be started without cranking by hand and by the 1920s was included as standard.

Although mass-produced petrol cars dominated the market, there was still a place for electric vehicles. Typically, this was when range was not a concern, as with milk floats, for indoor use such as forklift trucks, or to avoid noise and pollution, such as golf carts.

With the European Union banning sales of new combustion engines after 2035, electric vehicles look set to retake their position as the most popular car choice

However, the disastrous launch of the Sinclair C5 in 1985 cemented the idea that electric vehicles were low-powered and not suitable for regular road use. In 1997, Toyota introduced the hybrid Prius, which combined an internal combustion engine and electric drivetrain. This reignited interest in the possibilities of electric vehicles. Tesla Motors was established in California in 2003, and in 2004 Musk became its biggest shareholder. The company focused on popularising electric vehicles and improving battery quality.

Despite frequent concerns about safety, Musk’s conduct and workers’ rights, Tesla has assumed a market-leading position. In 2021 it finally turned a profit without relying on government funding or selling emissions credits.

With the European Union banning sales of new combustion engines after 2035, electric vehicles look set to retake their position as the most popular car choice. Whether or not Musk can take the credit for it (and he will certainly try), a return to streets free from car noise and pollution will surely be a welcome development.

Stuart Mathieson is a postdoctoral fellow in the school of history and geography at Dublin City University