Electric cars fell out of favor when gasoline models began to routinely achieve speeds of 30 to 40 mph on ordinary roads. Electric cars could not keep up. Range was limited but that was not a problem back in 1910 because people seldom drove far. For a trip over 20 miles they would take the train. Even gasoline cars were limited because there were few paved roads and no gas stations outside of large towns and cities.
The first person to drive across the U.S. was Horatio Nelson Jackson in 1903. It took him 65 days and he had to essentially rebuild the whole car several times along the way, and wire ahead to small towns and have them stockpile cans of gasoline. Here is an interesting automobile timeline: http://www.pbs.org/horatio/car/autochrono.html - Jed
