The tl;dr is that market forces led to early electric cars being slow and expensive- they were luxury vehicles primarily targeted at women, because they didn't have to be manually started. The cost was about equal before the model T, and speed could have been equal without any design compromises. The cost of fuel was also about equal.
The main reasons they weren't adopted was the lack of charging at home and secondarily the lack of good speed control. Not a big issue at low power, but once you can hit 40+ mph it's cumbersome and dangerous to be throwing switches to accelerate.
The tl;dr is that market forces led to early electric cars being slow and expensive- they were luxury vehicles primarily targeted at women, because they didn't have to be manually started. The cost was about equal before the model T, and speed could have been equal without any design compromises. The cost of fuel was also about equal.
The main reasons they weren't adopted was the lack of charging at home and secondarily the lack of good speed control. Not a big issue at low power, but once you can hit 40+ mph it's cumbersome and dangerous to be throwing switches to accelerate.