New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-09-05

The Edison Electric Illuminating
Company. the General Vehicle Com
pany. Of Long Island City, and the
Electric Storage Battery Company, OF
PHILADELPHIA, arc said to have effected
a combination by which electric yenicie
owners can eventually obtain fresh bat
tories In any part OF the country with
out delay Of more than ten minutes
II this plan is put into operation i
would moan that the future electric
vehicle will be purchased At a lower
mira and minus battery. That H.
the owner Of the vehicle will not own
the battery, but merely rent II from
CORPORATION which. it is said. will soon
be formed for supplying power to cleo
trio vehicles Of all types.
Several men who are in touch with
what is going on say that within Few
uontbs full details of this rather 81
gontic proiect will be announced, and
tb,4 thereafter the electric vehicle will
no on q close competitive basis with
The gGsolcne car.
When the electric vehicle owner de-
sires more Juice, he will not be com
pelled 70 place his car N a chafgui
station for recharglnR, but VIII me Ie,,
drive 70 the nearest battery SuPP''
station and wait for i've or zen Hllu l
tites until his discharged baItefy hiaJ
Le lifted out and fresh battery pue III
it's place. This service wlll De IN maHy
respects similar TO that OF the IesI-o
Lite tank service which was quIIe gen-
eral prior TO the coming OF inc e'eS
/ trio lighted garolene car.
Zone Of the officials OF the companies
c.,corncd in this rather extensive
npsiress venture will tax Of INC &c
+ tails but there is not mucn ooh"t
ebopt forthcoming official announce.
INT which will, il Is claimed, be OF
/ intense interest TO all motor car users
and which. it is said, may be some,
J thing Of shock 20 manufacturers Oh
/ gasolene vehicles. AZ
The latter have been looking for the
| ;daal storage battery car for long
/ tine and. OF course, Il Will require
more than plans and prospects 70
/ BRIGHTEN them. they having, IN tact'
grown rather callous TO rumors OF no"
! he storage battery is going TO reVolu7,
tionize all means of transportation ana
deyelop into a standard power lor
horseless vehicles.
Coupled with this project Will be a
very substantial reduction IN the pricfe
of electric vehicles Of all types Al
I ready one large manufacturer IN CIl-
cago has advertised vehicle whlcn ,l NC
sold last year for S2,6Oo LOT ?t'yo
minus battery, and a vehicle whlch ne
sold for $4,000 last year is now oHeleD
for 81 $50. minus battery. His adver-
tisement states that batteries will be
furnished by his service stations
throughout the Chicago district. This
il doing locally what the three large
con1panIes-the Edison, General We
hicle and Electric Storage Battery
Company-promise TO do nationally.
They propose to open the way LOT
every electric vehicle manufacturer 70
reduce the price of his vehicles and
sell them without batteries.
II Is said. in fact, that the present
nlans do not even include the first bat
terv with which every car must be
eoiipped. This will be taken care OF
by the battery renting corporation
which will furnish a battery Tor every
electric vehicle manufactured, but this
battery will not be owned by, the man
ufacturer of the vehicle nor by the IN
dividual who purchases it. The battery
will be the property of the storage
battery renting company or whatever
this corporation may be called;
Whether or not deposit Will be re-
quired upon the battery cannot De
learned. 1t is assumed, however, that
a small deposit will be required to in
sure the protection of the battery
against fire and damages. Through
csrelessness it is possible to burn out
battery. and the renting company
would naturally have to be protected
against a contingency of this kind.
The battery renting plan is not a
new one in any sense but the proposal
to extend the system throughout the
country places an old idea which has
already been worked out in Hartford,
Conn. on a basis with national scope