1895 Morris & Salom Electrobat IV

The Morris & Salom Electric Carriage & Wagon Company of Philadephia, Pennsylvania, was founded by Henry G. Morris and Pedro G. Salom. Morris was a mechanical engineer, and Salom was an electrician, and on January 19th of 1894, the duo applied for a patent on their first electric car. Just like many of their subsequent vehicles, it was called the Electrobat and was one of the most sophisticated electric vehicles of the era.

Three electric vehicles, called the Electrobat II, were brought to the Chicago Times-Herald Contest in 1895 and were powered by two 1.5 horsepower Lundell motors with batteries by the Electric Storage Battery Company of Philadelphia. The batteries provided 20 miles of touring for the 1,650-pound vehicle.

The company was formed shortly after the Chicago Times-Herald Contest, and its vehicles were put into use as electric cabs in both New York and Philadelphia. Isaac Rice provided another source of revenue, and the company's name was changed to the Electric Vehicle Company, which was later acquired by Colonel Albert A. Pope who later produced the Columbia automobiles of Hartford, Connecticut. The plan was to produce 2,000 electric taxicabs for America's major cities, which they did but failed to make a profit in the process. Instead, they chose to enforce the Selden Patent that they held, which proved more financially lucrative.

by Daniel Vaughan | Jun 2021