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 accidental?
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 1921, 162 electric cars were registered in the capital, of which 30 were passenger cars. Virtually all of these cars were manufactured in the USA.
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).
The electric cars were also easier to handle. No crank was required to start the engine, as was required with petrol cars before the self-starter became common. The cranks could quickly backfire and damage the hand.
In the United States, where about a third of cars at the beginning of the 20th century were electric, they were often perceived as ladies' cars. Much of the advertising targeted women, showing images of female drivers and emphasizing that these cars were cleaner and simpler than the petrol cars. A 1912 ad from the American Electric Automobile Association targeted 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 gas, oil and drivers. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Norwegian advertisement for Detroit Electric, 1916. Aftenposten, 26 October 1916.
Kate R. Schmedeman also owned a Detroit Electric. She was married to the American minister (equivalent to today's ambassador) in Norway, and was usually titled 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 used to 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 ship owner, millionaire and member of parliament Botholf Stolt-Nielsen. They lived in the villa Stoltenborg in Thomas Heftyes gate in Frogner, where they often held grand parties for the town'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 wealthy families.
However, Stolt-Nielsen's Milburn Electric has a special history. The car was bought by Botholf for NOK 13,000 at an auction run by the charitable Arguslotteriet in February 1920. Towards the end of the year, the car was donated back to the lottery, and for that reason it was on display at Stortorvet in Kristiania on several occasions. Already in February 1921, the car was won by a lucky lottery buyer. So it was not long 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 , 26 October 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 suggest that electric cars were seen as appropriate for women?
The numerical base is not large. In Kristiania, therefore, only three out of 30 electric passenger cars - ten percent - were registered to women in 1921. Nationwide, there were nine female owners the following year. 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 Statens Provianteringsdirektorat.
Also, 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 for Severin Christian Anker Holth in 1919 may indicate that it was a lady who had "handled" the car that was to be sold.
But it wasn't the case that women only drove electric cars either. In Kristiania, there were far more women who owned cars that ran on petrol. For example, the city had a number of female taxi owners, and among the taxis there were no electric cars.
In 1921, according to the Statistical Yearbook, there were 11,322 cars registered 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 business were owned by wholesaler Christian Strøm. Photo: The National Library.
