# Henry Ford Tried to Get Into The Electric Car Business? (in 1910)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/henry-ford-tried-to-get-into-the-electric-car-business-in-1910/581096>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 7, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/henry-ford-tried-to-get-into-the-electric-car-business-in-1910/581096 "2011-05-07T21:14:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/henry-ford-tried-to-get-into-the-electric-car-business-in-1910/581096/1 "2011-05-07T21:14:51Z")

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As I understand it, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison were great friends. Edison sold Ford on the idea of an electric car-for which Edison would develop the battery and motor-Ford would build the car.  
This effort started around 1910…and ultimately was a failure (the nickel-iron battery that Edison developed could not store enough energy to enable a range of over 30-40 miles).  
My question: given that Ford was very successful with his gasoline powered cars (for many years his Model T was the dominant car in the market), and gasoline was cheap in those days-why did Ford decide on sch a radical change in vehicle design?  
Is there any information about how much cash Ford lost on the venture?  
Was a seperate comapny set up to make the cars?  
I saw Jay leno’s 1910 electric baker car-this car did use the Edison batteries-and ran perfectly well-of corse, with a very short range.  
Did the failure of the venture affect Edison and Ford’s relationship?

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**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/henry-ford-tried-to-get-into-the-electric-car-business-in-1910/581096/2 "2011-05-07T21:24:32Z")

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You’re thinking of the [Detroit Electric](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Electric) but getting some major details wrong. Ford’s only involvement was to buy his wife one. Their major selling point was that they didn’t need to be crank-started.