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1917 Detroit Electric Model B
It's the forerunner of the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf, and Palmetto Electric Cooperative member Charles Mistele is proud to show off his 1917 Detroit Electric Model B. Take a ride with Charles and learn more about his vintage car.
WHEN IT COMES TO ELECTRIC CARS, most people only know the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf. But if you steer your way to the Hilton Head Island Motoring Festival Nov. 1-2, you’ll find another groundbreaking electric vehicle to ponder—the 1917 Detroit Electric Model B.
This vintage ride belongs to Palmetto Electric Cooperative member Charles Mistele, who is partnering with the co-op to display it alongside the newer electric models as part of the Motoring Midway. The exhibit will demonstrate just how much electric vehicles have—and haven’t—changed in 95 years.
Take range, for example. The Volt gets 40 to 50 miles on a single charge; the Leaf about 73 miles. And the Detroit Electric?
“It was advertised to go 80 miles on a charge, and with the optional Edison nickel-steel batteries—which cost as much as a Model T at the time—it would go 140 miles on a charge,” Mistele says with pride. “In fact, one went 211.3 miles on a charge, which was a world record for distance.”
While the Volt and Leaf can outperform the tiller-steered Detroit Electric in most every other dimension of automobile performance, Mistele wouldn’t trade. His car is a rare piece of automotive history from an era when drivers could buy cars powered by gas, electricity or steam. In 1917, Anderson Carriage Company was producing about 2,000 to 3,000 electric cars a year, but the advent of the electric starter motor soon gave gas-powered cars the edge. Today, there are fewer than 100 Detroit Electrics still around—most of them in museums.
Mistele’s wonderfully maintained Model B has been passed down from his great-grandparents, along with treasured family memories.
“I can remember riding in this car when I was 5 years old. Every Easter Sunday my grandfather brought his car to church, and I would ride back to his house in this car—if I was lucky,” he recalls. “Last June, my 7-year-old granddaughter was sitting in here. I was driving, and she was asking the same questions I asked my grandfather. ‘Poppy, how fast does this go?’ ‘Why doesn’t this car have a steering wheel?’ It was a little trip down memory lane.”