The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-02-07
Companies Engaged in Manu-.
facture Of These Machines
Showing New Models
BECOME POPULAR
WITH WOMEN DRIVERS
They Are Becoming Educated
to Methods Of Operating
and Caring For Them

been made In that branch of the In.
dustry which devotes all its time to
the manufacture Of electric pleasure
cars. and probably many will be sur
prised to know that at the present
time there are forty-six concerns In
this country which turn out this type
Of mechanically-propelled vehicles.
OF course, not all Of these are in the
limelight right now. Some still are
In an embryonic state, just getting
on their feet. SO to speak; others have
been making cars for some time. but
have made little progress, while there
are probably one-fourth Of them
which have made good and which al
ready are we'll established in the ma
tional mart.
The Chicago show affords the crit
les fine opportunity to get q good
line on the situation. The represen-
tation. while not complete. is good
and the cars that are on view repre-
sent the trend in this branch of the
industry. Still. there are several
which are not in the show but which,
nevertheless, are very much alive and
doing a big business. The Chicago
show has q better representation Of
this type, though, than New York, be-
cause Of the edict Of the A. Il A. NJ,
which refused to permit the pleasure
electrics to share space with the gas
oline pleasure cars the first week.
Only two or three TODD advantage Of
the opportunity to show among the
electrics, 90 that the bulk Of the repre-
sentation falls on Chicago. which is
keenly alive to the advantages Of this.
Chicago has been prominent in the
electric field because Of the activity
Of the Wood company, which IL one Of
the pioneers concerns Of the country,
and It Is estimated that there are at
least $500 electric pleasure cars own
ed in the Windy city. most Of them
driven by women.
While 1t may not be so in some Of
the other metropolitan cities, in the
case Of Chicago there has been a re-
cent stampede on the part Of agents
who heretofore have handled only
gasoline cars to take on electrics al
80, 1t having become q recognized fact
that the two go we'll together and do
not clash in any manner. While this
is the generally accepted belief, yet
there are some electric car folk who
insist that the best results are OBJ
tanned when the electric IL handled
separately. They argue that the cleo
trio car business is Of far different
nature than the gasoline and that to
do we'll the men in charge must be
familiar with the electric type from
beginning to end, which is not the
case generally with the gasoline car
dealer. who has devoted most Of his
time to educating himself in his own
particular line. Be that as it may,
the fact remains that there are about
half the makes carried by concerns
who also sell gasoline cars.
One Of the Arguments.
Az an argument why the gasoline
agents should handle the electric. it
IL pointed out that often 1t is easy to
sell an electric to q man who has
purchased q gasoline car. at the same
time benefiting the purchaser, be-
cause he will have only one concern
looking after his interests instead of
two.
On the other hand, some Of the
practical men Of the industry claim
that the side line idea IL a poor one
from their standpoint and to back up
their arguments they point out how
1t 10 necessary to maintain garages
and charging stations and to carry
equipment such as gasoline car
agent does not usually have IN his
establishment. Notwithstanding all
this, though, It is evident that general
progress 10 being made along these
lines to such an extent that It will
not be long before every large city
will be 80 we'll equipped with charg-
ing stations that 1t will be no trouble
ct all to care for the electric trade.
A. an example Of this, 1t might be
noted that the one Of Chicago, now
has sixty-six charging stations in