Lithium battery powered cars were first sold in the U.S. in 2008, roughly 110 years after their gas-powered predecessors debuted on American roads. (ILLUSTRATION BY BARRON’S; GETTY (1), DREAMSTIME (1))
Please note that an earlier version of this Op-Ed, written by Ben Z. Rose, president of Battle Road Research, appeared in Barron’s.

Located at the western edge of Massachusetts, Berkshire County is today, as it has always been, a popular place to spend the summer. Banded by Williamstown in the north and Sheffield in the south, the region’s farm and conservation lands conjure up a bygone era, even as the appearance of modern cars and trucks on its roads reminds us of the here and now.

Not surprisingly, I’ve noticed firsthand that electric vehicles from Tesla, Ford, Rivian, and others have crept their way into the Berkshire countryside. EVs currently account for less than seven percent of new car purchases in the U.S.—up from just 2% in 2020. But, thus far, they are embraced primarily by early adopters like those in the Berkshires.
As it turns out, this trend was also true of the Berkshires in the early years of the first automobile revolution. More than 230 manufacturers—including Knox Automobile, Stevens-Duryea, the Packard Motor Company, Olds Motor Works, the Henry Ford Company, and Mercedes Simplex—tested their autos on the roads of Berkshire County in the first 15 years of the 1900s, according to historian Bernard A. Drew. In his insightful study of the early automobile industry, Well Wheeled: How Cortlandt Field Bishop, Marguerite Westinghouse, Alden Sampson II and Gilded Age Lenox Cottagers Fueled the Brass Era of American Automobiling, Drew, himself a Berkshire resident, reaches back in time to the turn of the 20th century, when the barriers to enter the car business were much lower than they are today. Small teams of talented engineers brought their early prototypes to the road, and the well-to-do assumed the risk of patronizing their efforts.
During that period, many of the well-heeled luminaries of the Gilded Age, such as the Sloanes, Morgans, Whartons, and Vanderbilts, spent their summers in the county. Unconstrained by speed limits and licenses, these early auto enthusiasts provide a glimpse into the challenge of moving the first fleet of automobiles into the mainstream.

Edith Wharton, who was among the most successful authors of the era and a Berkshire aristocrat, was also fascinated by the automobile. While taking a break from writing the next chapter of The Age of Innocence, or pondering the plot line for Ethan Frome, she could be seen behind the wheel of her single-cylinder, 10 horsepower 1904 Pope-Hartford, her 24-horsepower Panhard, or one of her many other cars. But she lamented their lack of reliability and her frequent visits to the local mechanic. “One set out on a 10-mile run with more apprehension than would now attend a journey across Africa,” she observed. There was, however, an “inexhaustible delight in penetrating to the remoter parts of Massachusetts” from behind the wheel.

It wasn’t until Ford launched the Model T in 1908 that the automobile became easier to operate—it introduced a simpler 2-speed manual gearbox—and became affordable for many, thanks to mass production. Model T annual sales increased from 10,000 in its debut year to more than 300,000 by 1914.

As was the case during the first automobile revolution, early EV models from Tesla, Porsche, and BMW were typically priced in excess of $80,000, and embraced primarily by well-heeled auto enthusiasts. But in just 15 years, the market is already entering its Model T era: EVs have begun to close the price gap with gas-powered cars. According to Cox Automotive the average EV is priced at $6,200 above the average price of a gasoline powered car. The gap would be considerably narrower, but for the cancellation of EV tax credits enacted under the Affordable Care Act.
Undeniably, more is needed to appeal to those still reluctant to take the EV plunge. Faster charging, greater availability of public charging stations, longer driving range, better cold weather performance, as well as even more affordable models will help to close the gap. Advances in autonomous driving will also give EVs another leg up over gas-powered cars.

While the Model T revolutionized personal transportation in the U.S., the horse and buggy was still a common mode of transportation through the Great Depression, particularly in rural areas. It took roughly 30 years after their commercial debut for autos to become ubiquitous on American roadways.

The U.S. is less than two decades into the EV revolution. There is still plenty of time for EVs to mature and demonstrate their advantages over the internal combustion engine created more than one hundred years ago.