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When did electric cars become popular in the USA?

I just saw an EV commercial on TV last night, I’ve never seen one before. When did EVs become popular in the US because it seems like it just happened really suddenly?

avatar
Marlee John · Updated on
Reviewed by Shannon Martin, Licensed Insurance Agent.
Electric cars are not new in the USA, but they made their way back to the mainstream around the 1990s and early 2000s.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, around the time they were invented (and useable), EVs were all the rage. For several decades the electric car went into hiding as the gas-powered vehicle ruled the roads.
However, with a more recent concern for climate change and cleaning the air of hydrocarbons and greenhouse gases, the prospect of the EV became more of a possibility. Tesla, along with other leading EV manufacturers, was founded in the early 2000s, and with it, EVs made a high-tech, luxury reappearance.
Tesla helped get the interest in electric cars out of the smaller, environmentally-conscious circles, and into the driveways of those interested in luxury vehicles.
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