DAYS OF POWER PAST

Gasoline or electric? For the first time in more than a century, both are viable options, but what was the decision like 100 years ago? With the help of the Henry Ford museum in Michigan, we traveled back in time to pit a Ford Model T against a Detroit Electric Model 90.

Both cars were mature products. Ford had made few changes to the T since its 1908 introduction, and in 1921 it was approaching the peak of its popularity. Likewise, the Anderson Electric Car Company had kept its Detroit Electrics more or less the same since 1914, when sales of electric cars rivaled those of gasoline-powered ones, thanks to high fuel prices during World War I. By the time our test car was built in 1922, though, electric car sales were in decline.

Posh Detroit Electric vs. Spartan Ford

Then as now, electric cars were expensive to build, so the Detroit Electric was positioned as a luxury car. The Model 90’s cabin is outfitted like an Edwardian sitting room, with plush carpet, drapes, flower vases, and what appears to be a well-stuffed