An electric Smart Car recharging its battery

An electric vehicle is a vehicle that uses electricity to move. Its wheels are driven by electric motors.

Electric vehicles were one of the first kinds that did not use horse or human power. Electric trains and cars were built in the 1830s, and in the early 1900s there were more electric cars than gasoline-powered cars. But cars powered by gasoline or diesel fuel become the most common kind of car for most of the last 100 years.