Dallas
had electric delivery trucks in the 1920s and 30s.
Many electric delivery vehicles were used in big cities into the 1960s.
The
problem with electrics was slow speed and short range.
But
it is a mystery car once demonstrated by Nikola Tesla,
developer
of alternating current, that might have made electrics triumphant.
Supported
by the Pierce-Arrow Co. and General Electric in 1931.
In
1930, Nikola Tesla asked his nephew, Petar Savo, who was born in Yugoslavia
in 1899,
to come to New York. Petar was 43 years younger than his uncle.
Up to that date, he had lived under stringent conditions in Yugoslavia, Tesla's
country of birth. During the summer of 1931,
Tesla
took his nephew to Buffalo to unveil and test a new automobile. Tesla had
developed it with his own personal funds.
It
was a Pierce Arrow, one of the luxury cars of the period.
The
engine had been removed, leaving the clutch, gearbox and transmission to the
rear wheels undisturbed.
The
gasoline engine had been replaced with a round, completely enclosed electric
motor of approximately 1 meter in length and 65 cm in diameter,
with a cooling fan in front. Reputedly, it had no distributor.
Tesla
was not willing to say who had manufactured the engine. It was possibly one
of the divisions of Westinghouse.
The
"energy receiver" (gravitational energy converter) had been built
by Nikola Tesla himself.
The dimensions of the converter housing were approximately 60 X 25 X 15 cm.
It was installed in front of the dashboard. Among other things, the converter
contained 12 vacuum tubes,
of which three were of the 70-L-7 type. A heavy antenna, approximately 1.8
meters long, came out of the converter.
This
antenna apparently had the same function as that on the Moray converter
Furthermore,
two thick rods protruded approximately 10 cm from the converter housing.
Tesla
pushed them in, saying "Now we have power." the motor achieved a
maximum of 1,800 rpm.
Tesla
said it was fairly hot when operating, and therefore a cooling fan was required.
For
the rest, he said there was enough power in the converter to illuminate an
entire house, besides running the car engine.
The
car was tested for a week, reaching a top speed of 90 miles per hour effortlessly.
Its performance data were at least comparable to those of an automobile using
gasoline.
At
a stop sign, a passerby remarked that there were no exhaust gases coming from
the exhaust pipe.
Petar
answered "We have no motor."
Popular
responses included charges of "black magic," and the sensitive
genius didn't like the skeptical comments of the press.
He
removed his mysterious box, returned to his laboratory in New York - and
the secret of his power source died with him !