<Dl> <Dt> Post-WWII </Dt> </Dl> <P> Whether steam cars will ever be reborn in later technological eras remains to be seen . Magazines such as Light Steam Power continued to describe them into the 1980s . The 1950s saw interest in steam - turbine cars powered by small nuclear reactors (this was also true of aircraft), but the dangers inherent in nuclear fission technology soon killed these ideas . </P> <P> In 1828, Ányos Jedlik, a Hungarian who invented an early type of electric motor, created a tiny model car powered by his new motor . In 1834, Vermont blacksmith Thomas Davenport, the inventor of the first American DC electric motor, installed his motor in a small model car, which he operated on a short circular electrified track . In 1835, Professor Sibrandus Stratingh of Groningen, the Netherlands and his assistant Christopher Becker created a small - scale electrical car, powered by non-rechargeable primary cells . In 1838, Scotsman Robert Davidson built an electric locomotive that attained a speed of 4 miles per hour (6 km / h). In England, a patent was granted in 1840 for the use of tracks as conductors of electric current, and similar American patents were issued to Lilley and Colten in 1847 . </P> <P> Sources point to different creations as the first electric car . Between 1832 and 1839 (the exact year is uncertain) Robert Anderson of Scotland invented a crude electric carriage, powered by non-rechargeable primary cells . In November 1881, French inventor Gustave Trouvé demonstrated a working three - wheeled car powered by electricity at the International Exposition of Electricity, Paris . But others regard the Flocken Elektrowagen of 1888 by German inventor Andreas Flocken as the first true electric car . </P>

When was the first car invented with a motor