South Bend Studebaker 1909 electric shuttle (#0110)

Studebaker’s first cars were electric because gasoline powered automobiles were “clumsy, dangerous, noisy brutes which stink to high heaven, break down at the worst possible moment, and are a public nuisance.” Though in 1903 they had an electric that could run 40 miles on a charge, gas won out in popularity due to range and higher speed, so they stopped building electric in 1911.

Their most interesting electric, to me, was this vehicle which they built for the US Government in 1909. This was one of two vehicles built for the tunnel between the Senate office building and the Capitol – because there wasn’t space in the tunnel for the vehicle to turn around, it had control for driving in either direction. They had a top speed of 12 mph and could carry 11 passengers. The cars were replaced by a rail system in 1912.

Sources: placards in museum