American Electric (1899 automobile)



The American Electric was an American automobile manufactured in Chicago from 1899 to 1902 and Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1902. The company was incorporated by Clinton Edgar Woods in 1895<ref name= "HW 1902">Halliday Witherspoon (1902) Men of Illinois p. 52</ref> as American Electric Vehicle Co. Chicago, and merged with Indiana Bicycle Co. to become Waverly in 1898<ref name = "ee-com CC">Car Companies on earlyelectric.com. Accessed May 7, 2013</ref> and later Pope-Waverley.<ref name = "ee-com CC"/><ref>The Waverley Company on earlyelectric.com. Accessed May 7, 2013</ref>
The company built a wide range of electric carriages - some bodied as high, ungainly-looking dos-a-dos four-seaters - these were claimed to be capable of running from Template:Convert to Template:Convert. Perhaps optimistically, the manufacturer claimed that "very few private carriages would ever be subjected to such a test". The company moved to New Jersey in 1902, according to a company statement, “to find more wealthy customers,” but they shut down operations within the year.