1912 Rauch & Lang Electric Roadster
Advertised as Noiseless - - Odorless - - Clean.
In these early days, electric cars equaled the sales of gasoline and steam-powered automobiles.
In 1912 the Electric roadster cost $2250, while a Ford Model T Runabout cost $650.
This car was originally owned and driven by Elizabeth Cunningham, mother of famed America’s Cup yachtsman and race car driver Briggs Cunningham Jr. As a rare surviving example of an unrestored Rauch & Lang Roadster, it was featured in exhibits - Women Take the Wheel: Fashion, Modernity and the Automobile 1905 – 1945, and Early Landmarks in Automotive Engineering, 1886-1939. And the roadster received a class award in the alternate fuel class at the 2022 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
Easy to start, quiet with no smell, and simple to operate, made early electric cars a newfound freedom and pastime to go “Automobiling”.
Electric cars were quickly deemed appropriate for women to drive and were seen on Bellevue Avenue in Newport on afternoon promenades. It was a new freedom, without the fuss of preparing a horse-drawn carriage.
“The Car That’s Safe - Any woman can run the car safely. All the power and a strong brake are controlled through one simple lever. The car can’t possibly start ‘til this lever is first in the neutral position. Yet all the power can be shut off instantly with the lever in any position. The car is proof against carelessness on the part of the operator.”
The Rauch & Lang Electric was advertised as the handsomest coupe on the market — "as cozy and luxurious as any woman would have it — as able and efficient as any man would demand it to be." Advertisers spun pent-up demand to imply social prestige, being one of those lucky enough to purchase one of the 1,200 cars made that year. Described as “The highest priced automobile on the market. Its value is readily apparent to those who seek in a car artistic and mechanical perfection." And “Rauch & Lang Electrics are so easily controlled a child can run one with perfect safety.”
“In the beauty of finish and luxury of appointments, they are the ne plus ultra of carriage makers’ art. All points of mechanical excellence including SAFETY LOCKING DEVICE and ELECTRIC BRAKE CONTROL are fully patented and used exclusively on RAUCH & LANG CARS.”
Specifications:
Power: 86-volt system with the original single electric motor. Originally used banks of 6-volt lead-acid batteries, now converted to lithium rechargeable batteries.
Brakes: Transaxle band brake and transmission braking.
Range: 40 miles
Max speed: 25 mph