The Neale electric car was made in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 in 1897 by Douglas Neale. The car was described as electrically driven, with a range of speed from 3 to 12 miles per hour. Only a limited number of these vehicles were made and none survive.

Battery and motor

Its battery was a Planté

Gaston Planté

Gaston Planté was the French physicist who invented the lead-acid battery in 1859. The lead-acid battery eventually became the first rechargeable electric battery marketed for commercial use.Planté was born on April 22, 1834, in Orthez, France...

 or pure lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

 15 cell. Each cell had a 115 amp hour capacity. The traction system was covered by seven patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

s. It was direct drive from the armature

Armature (electrical engineering)

In electrical engineering, an armature generally refers to one of the two principal electrical components of an electromechanical machine–generally in a motor or generator, but it may also mean the pole piece of a permanent magnet or electromagnet, or the moving iron part of a solenoid or relay....

 shaft on to the wheel of the vehicle.

Weights

The battery weighed 405 lbs. The car's motor was 1 bhp and weighed 100 lbs. The car itself (excluding the battery, motor, and any load weighed 448 lbs. Its range was 35 miles at a total weight of 9 cwt.

Controls

The vehicle's steering was direct to the axle, meaning the axle moved at the same rate as the steering handle. The other driver control was a switch that enabled the driver to move either forward or back at any speed, brake, ring the electric gong, and stop. There was also a foot brake to comply with the Board of Trade

Board of Trade

The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...

 regulations.

See also

• Robert Davidson (inventor) Scottish creator of the first battery powered locomotive in 1842.