History of Electric Neighborhood Vehicles

The interesting thing about electric neighborhood vehicles is that they have a history totally different from that of any other electric vehicle that you will encounter.  This is because their history did not start with motivation, innovation, inspiration or perspiration.  Whereas other EV histories begin with the creation of a product, the history of electric neighborhood vehicles begins with government legislation.

Specifically, it was legislation on the part of the US federal government that was responsible for the creation of the first set of electric neighborhood vehicles.  The year was 1998 and the Federal Government decided to pass the Federal Motor Safety Standard 500 (FMVSS 500).  Under this particular regulation, a lot of roadworthy freedoms were given to people that wanted to operate a new class of electric vehicle known as the neighborhood electric vehicle.

This class, abbreviated NEV, applied to any vehicle that had four wheels, was powered by electricity and was only capable of small speeds in the range of 20 to 30 mph.  These speeds were barely sufficient for main roads, but the fact that they were at the top of vehicle tolerance actually did make these vehicles inappropriate for many of the major roads in the country.  Therefore, the government made a deal with people that if they only operated these cars in their neighborhood (i.e. on roads with lower than 30 mph speed limits), they would be made legal.

FMVSS 500 has been in place for the last 11 years and indeed has been responsible for the rapid proliferation of these NEV products in many of the larger neighborhoods of the United States.