在1911年电动启动器发明之前，汽油车因需要手摇曲柄启动、噪音大且排放有毒废气而存在使用门槛，相比之下，早期电动汽车只需通过开关电池即可启动且无排气污染 1。基于这一便利性优势，通用电气（General Electric）刻意将电动汽车营销为适合女性驾驶的产品，并制作了一系列展示时尚女性使用汞弧整流器给汽车充电的广告 1。这种由Peter Cooper Hewitt发明的汞弧整流器作为二极管工作，能将交流电转换为直流电为电池充电，充满一个耗尽的电池约需12小时 1。
以Fannie Goodnow为例，她拥有一辆1908年由S.R. Bailey & Co.制造的Victoria Phaeton，该车配备Gould Storage Battery Co.提供的30节铅酸电池，标准续航可达64至80公里，售价为2,000美元（约合今日73,000美元） 1。尽管Thomas Edison早在1890年代便开始研发汽车电池，但其1903年宣布的成果存在泄漏和保持电量问题，直到1910年才改进生产，此时Henry Ford的Model T已占据市场主导地位 1。数据显示，美国汽车产量从1901年的7,000辆激增至1910年的181,000辆，而S.R. Bailey & Co.最终于1915年出售工厂，其总共仅生产了约500至600辆电动汽车 1。Fannie Goodnow所使用的充电站原件已于2022年捐赠给位于马萨诸塞州Sandwich的Heritage Museums & Gardens博物馆 1。
In the early 20th century, electric vehicles were strategically marketed as suitable for women, primarily because they eliminated the need for hazardous manual cranking and toxic exhaust fumes associated with gasoline cars. 1 Before the invention of the electric starter in 1911, internal combustion engines required physically demanding hand-cranking that produced noise and harmful emissions, whereas electric cars could be activated simply by switching on their batteries. 1 General Electric capitalized on this convenience advantage by producing a series of advertisements depicting fashionable women using mercury arc rectifiers to charge their automobiles. 1 These charging systems relied on an invention by Peter Cooper Hewitt, who developed the mercury arc rectifier functioning as a diode to convert alternating current into direct current for battery charging, a process that took approximately 12 hours to fully recharge a depleted battery. 1
A notable example from this era is Fannie Goodnow, a resident of the Boston area who owned a 1908 Victoria Phaeton manufactured by S.R. Bailey & Co. 1 This vehicle was equipped with 30 lead-acid batteries supplied by the Gould Storage Battery Co., offering a standard range of 64 to 80 kilometers and costing $2,000 at the time, which is equivalent to roughly $73,000 today. 1 While Thomas Edison had been researching automotive batteries since the 1890s, his 1903 announcement revealed significant issues with leaking and maintaining charge, leading to improved production only in 1910—by which point Henry Ford’s Model T had already secured market dominance. 1 The U.S. automotive industry saw rapid growth during this period, with production rising from 7,000 units in 1901 to 181,000 units by 1910, yet S.R. Bailey & Co. produced only about 500 to 600 electric cars before selling its factory in 1915. 1 The original charging station used by Goodnow was donated to the Heritage Museums & Gardens in Sandwich, Massachusetts, in 2022. 1
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