An American woman charges an electric Columbia Mark 68 Victoria, circa 1912. Photo: Schenectady Museum; Hall of Electrical History Foundation/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images.
A hundred years ago, electric cars were a fairly common sight in the capital, Kristiania. Some of these cars had female owners. Was it a coincidence?
By Frode Weium
Electric cars are nothing new. If we go back a hundred years, there were a significant number of electric cars in Norway. The majority of them were commercial vehicles such as trucks and vans, and most of them were in Kristiania. In the capital, there were 162 registered electric cars in 1921, of which 30 were passenger cars. Almost all of these cars were manufactured in the United States.
The descriptions of the electric cars of the time still sound familiar. The advantages were that they made less noise and polluted. The disadvantages were the battery capacity and the range. In the Illustrated Norwegian Conversation Lexicon from 1907 it was stated that "these carriages have a quieter ride than the petrol carriages, and you are free from the smell of petrol fumes, but the carriages must be regularly charged with electricity, which limits their use in the cities and their immediate surroundings." (Volume 1, column 586).
Electric cars were also easier to handle. They didn't require a crank to start the engine, as was required with gasoline cars before the self-starter became common. Cranks could easily kick back and injure the hand.
In the United States, where about a third of cars in the early 20th century were electric, they were often seen as ladies' cars. Much of the advertising was aimed at women, showing pictures of female drivers and emphasizing that these cars were cleaner and simpler than gasoline-powered cars. An advertisement from the American Electric Automobile Association in 1912 was aimed at men, but claimed that electric cars were so simple that "Your wife or daughter – even a child – can run it." ( The Literary Digest , July 13, 1912, p. 70).
American advertisement for Detroit Electric, 1917. During World War I, women were encouraged to choose electric cars to save on gasoline, oil, and drivers. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Norwegian advertisement for Detroit Electric, 1916. Aftenposten, October 26, 1916.
Kate R. Schmedeman also owned a Detroit Electric. She was married to the American minister (equivalent to today's ambassador) to Norway, and was usually addressed as "Mrs. Minister Schmedeman." As in the case of Severin Christian Anker Holth and his wife Anna, we can perhaps assume that the minister's wife was well-acquainted with electric cars from her home country.
Astrid Stolt-Nielsen was registered as the owner of a Milburn Electric manufactured in Toledo, Ohio. She was married to shipowner, millionaire and member of parliament Botholf Stolt-Nielsen. They lived in the villa Stoltenborg on Thomas Heftyes gate in Frogner, where they often held grand parties for the city's society. In 1921 they had two cars and drivers. This may illustrate how the electric passenger cars were often luxury cars owned by more affluent families.
Stolt-Nielsen's Milburn Electric, however, has a special history. The car was purchased by Botholf for 13,000 kroner at an auction organized by the charitable Argus Lottery in February 1920. Towards the end of the year, the car was donated back to the lottery, and for that reason it was exhibited on Stortorvet in Kristiania on several occasions. As early as February 1921, the car was won by a lucky lottery buyer. So it was not long before it was in the Stolt-Nielsen family's possession.
The Milburn Electric was also among the best-selling electric cars, and quite similar to the Detroit Electric in both appearance and performance. In the United States, the car was used by, among others, the secret service, in addition to President Woodrow Wilson. There were four Milburn Electrics in Kristiania at this time. At The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology , one of the others is on display. It was owned by the car company Kohlberg Caspary & Co and was first registered on March 8, 1919.
Norwegian advertisement for Detroit Electric, 1916. Aftenposten , October 26, 1916.
Milburn Electric, 1919 model. The car is on display at The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology . Photo: The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology .
The women's car?
Was it purely coincidental that there were some female owners of electric cars in Kristiania a hundred years ago? Or does this indicate that electric cars were seen as appropriate for women?
The figures are not large. In Kristiania, only three out of 30 electric passenger cars – ten percent – were registered to women in 1921. Nationwide, the following year there were nine female owners. But that did not mean that the rest of the cars were registered to men. Over half of the electric passenger cars in Kristiania in 1921 were owned by companies or agencies such as Freia Chokoladefabrik, Schous Bryggeri and the Norwegian Provisions Directorate.
Moreover, there may have been a difference between owning and driving the cars. Can we assume that some of the electric cars owned by men were mostly used by their wives or daughters? The advertisement by Severin Christian Anker Holth in 1919 may indicate that it was a woman who had "handled" the car that was to be sold.
But it wasn't just women who drove electric cars. In Kristiania, far more women owned cars that ran on gasoline. For example, the city had a number of female taxi owners, and among the taxis there were no electric cars.
According to the Statistical Yearbook, in 1921 there were 11,322 registered cars in Norway, of which 8,214 were passenger cars. The number of electric cars is uncertain, but was probably under 300. Some estimates were as high as 440 cars.
A Milburn Electric outside the Steen & Strøm department store in Oslo. Both the car and the store were owned by wholesaler Christian Strøm. Photo: National Library.
