You could buy a steam-powered car.

你可以買一輛蒸汽動力汽車。

Typically relying on gas-powered boilers, these could drive as far as you wanted—

它們通常靠鍋爐推動，想要去多遠都到得了，

provided you also wanted to lug around extra water to refuel, and didn't mind waiting 30 minutes for your engine to heat up.

前提是你不介意攜帶額外的備用補充水，也不介意等 30 分鐘燒水暖車的話。

Alternatively, you could buy a car powered by gasoline.

或是你可以買一輛汽油驅動的汽車。

However, the internal combustion engines in these models required dangerous hand-cranking to start, and emitted loud noises and foul-smelling exhaust while driving.

然而這些車型的內燃機需要靠危險的手搖桿來啟動，行駛過程中還會發出巨大的噪音和難聞的廢氣。

So your best bet was probably option number three: a battery-powered electric vehicle.

所以你最好的選擇可能會是第三個選項：由電池驅動的電動汽車。

These cars were quick to start, clean and quiet to run, and if you lived somewhere with access to electricity, easy to refuel overnight.

這些車能快速啟動，運行起來既乾淨又安靜。如果你住在有供電的地方，只要一個晚上就能充好電。

If this seems like an easy choice, you're not alone.

如果你覺得這個選擇題的答案顯而易見，並不是只有你這麼想。

By the end of the 19th century, nearly 40% of American cars were electric.

到了 19 世紀末，近 40% 的美國汽車是電動的。

In cities with early electric systems, battery-powered cars were a popular and reliable alternative to their occasionally explosive competitors.

在一些有早期電力系統的城市，與它們偶爾會爆炸的競爭對手相比，電動汽車是一種受歡迎且可靠的替代品。

But electric vehicles had one major problem—batteries.

但電動汽車有一個重大問題——電池。

Early car batteries were expensive and inefficient.

早期的汽車電池既昂貴，效率又低。

Many inventors, including Thomas Edison, tried to build batteries that stored more electricity.

包括湯瑪斯·愛迪生等許多發明家都試圖製造出能儲存更多電能的電池。

Others even built exchange stations in urban areas to swap out dead batteries for charged ones.

其他人甚至在市區建造電池交換站，用來更換沒電的電池。

But these measures weren't enough to allow electric vehicles to make long trips.

但這些措施仍不足以讓電動汽車長途旅行。

And at over twice the price of a gas-powered car, many couldn't afford these luxury items.

而電動車的價格是汽油車的兩倍多，許多人買不起這些奢侈品。

At the same time, oil discoveries lowered the price of gasoline, and new advances made internal combustion engines more appealing.

與此同時，石油的發現降低了汽油的價格，而新的技術進步使得內燃機更具吸引力。

Electric starters removed the need for hand-cranking, mufflers made engines quieter, and rubber engine mounts reduced vibration.

電子啟動替代了手搖點火，消音器使引擎更安靜，橡膠支座讓引擎振動得以減少。

In 1908, Ford released the Model T: a cheap, high-quality gas-powered car that captured the public imagination.

1908 年，福特發佈了 T 型車。這款廉價、高品質的汽油動力汽車攫取了公眾的興趣。

By 1915, the percentage of electric cars on the road had plummeted.

到了 1915 年，公路上行駛的電動汽車的比例急劇下降。

For the next 55 years, internal combustion engines ruled the roads.

在接下來的 55 年裡，內燃機引擎主宰了道路。

Aside from some special-purpose vehicles, electric cars were nowhere to be found.

除了一些特殊用途的汽車以外，電動汽車幾乎完全絕跡。

However, in the 1970s, the tide began to turn.

然而到了 1970 年代，潮流開始轉向。

US concerns about oil availability renewed interest in alternative energy sources.

美國對石油供應的擔憂重新激發了人們對新能源的興趣。

And studies in the 1980s linking car emissions with smog in cities like Los Angeles, encouraged governments and environmental organizations to reconsider electric vehicles.

1980 年代洛杉磯等城市的汽車排放與霧霾有關的研究，鼓勵政府和環境保護組織重新考慮電動汽車。

At this point, car companies had spent decades investing in internal combustion engines without devoting any resources to solving the century-old battery problem.

至此，汽車公司已經花了幾十年投資於內燃機引擎，卻沒有投入任何資源來解決長達一個世紀的電池問題。

But other companies were developing increasingly efficient batteries to power a new wave of portable electronics.

但其他公司則為了可攜式電子產品熱潮，逐漸開發出效率越來越高的電池。

By the 1990s, energy dense nickel metal hydride batteries were on the market, soon followed by lithium-ion batteries.

到了 1990 年代，市面上出現了高能量密度的鎳氫電池，而在不久後，鋰離子電池也跟著問世了。

Alongside regulatory mandates by California to reduce smog, these innovations sparked a small wave of new electric vehicles, including hybrid cars.

加上了加州減少霧霾的監管規定，這些創新引發了一波新的電動汽車的浪潮，其中也包括混合動力汽車。

Hybrids aren't true electric vehicles; their nickel metal hydride batteries are only used to optimize the efficiency of gas-burning engines.

混合動力車並不是真正的電動汽車；他們的鎳氫電池僅用於優化汽油引擎的效率。

But in 2008, Tesla Motors went further, grabbing the attention of consumers, automakers, and regulators with its lithium-ion-powered Roadster.

但在 2008 年，特斯拉汽車公司進一步創新，其鋰離子電池動力跑車吸引了消費者、汽車製造商和監管機構的注意力。

This purely electric vehicle could travel more than 320 kilometers on a single charge, almost doubling the previous record.

這款純電動汽車一次充電可以行駛超過 320 公里，而這幾乎是以前記錄的兩倍。

Since then, electric vehicles have vastly improved in cost, performance, efficiency, and availability.

從那以後，電動汽車在成本、性能、效率與產量方面都有大幅改善。

They can accelerate much faster than gas-powered sports cars, and while some models still have a high upfront cost, they reliably save their drivers money in the long run.

它們的加速性能汽油動力跑車快得多，而儘管有些車型的前期費用仍然很高，從長遠來看，它們確實能為車主省錢。

As governments around the world focus on slowing climate change, electric vehicles are now expected to replace gas-powered ones altogether.

隨著世界各國政府對減緩氣候變化的關注，電動汽車將有望完全取代汽油動力車。

In Norway, 75% of car sales in 2020 were plug-in electric vehicles.

在挪威，2020 年 75% 的汽車銷售是插入式電動汽車。

And policies such as California's Zero Emission Vehicle mandate and Europe's aggressive CO2 emission standards have dramatically slowed investments in gas-powered vehicles worldwide.

諸如加州的零排放汽車法令和歐洲積極減排等政策極大地減緩了全球對汽油動力車的投資。

Soon, electric cars will reclaim their place on the road, putting gasoline in our rearview.

電動汽車很快將重新佔據它們在道路上的位置，超車汽油車，並將其拋在後頭。

So how can you get involved? Team up with us! We are launching a major campaign and support of the transition to electric vehicles. Learn more and get involved at ed.ted.com/driveelctric.

那你該如何加入這個熱潮呢？和我們一起合作吧！我們正在進行一個大規模推廣計畫，幫助大家轉換到電動車的陣營。前往 ed.ted.com/driveelctric 了解更多。