By Jay Hirsch
What was known as the Detroit Electric Car Company began life as the Anderson Carriage Company in 1884 in Port Huron, Mich. The Anderson Company built horse-drawn carriages and buggies. At the start of the 20th century there were several electric car companies in the United States: Baker Motor Company based in Cleveland, Ohio; Studebaker made horse-drawn carriages and conestoga wagon before making an electric car from 1902 to 1912; and the Riker Electric Motor Company, founded in 1888 by Andrew Riker in Brooklyn, N.Y., made electric motors for tricycles. In 1898 the company moved to Elizabeth, N.J., where it produced four-wheeled vehicles, and in 1901 merged with the Electric Vehicle Company. Andrew Riker went on to join the Locomobile Car Company, which made high-end gasoline-powered cars.
In the United States at the beginning of the automobile age in the 1900s, 40 percent of vehicles were steam-powered, 38 percent had electric power, and only 22 percent were gasoline-engine vehicles. Electric cars had an advantage…
