" two things killed that first generation of electric cars. One was Henry Ford’s Model T and the mass production of the assembly line. The other, though less well known, was the electric starter, invented by Charles Kettering in 1911 for Cadillac after a person died from cranking a car. Kettering’s invention eliminated the need for someone to stand in front and crank. Over the next several years, electric cars faded away. "

― Daniel Yergin , The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations