Riker Electric Vehicle Company

1900 Riker Victoria

The Riker was a veteran and brass era electric car founded in 1898 in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Designed by Andrew L. Riker, they were built in small numbers until the company was absorbed by the Electric Vehicle Company in 1901.

An article in the September 26, 1896 edition of Scientific American lists The Riker Electric Motor Company, of Brooklyn, N. Y as the winner of the horseless carriage race in Narragansett Park track at Providence, R. I. The prize was $900.00. The article also states "The fastest mile was made by the Riker electric carriage, the time being 2:13." This is possibly the first automobile race done around a track in the USA,and was won by The Riker Electric Vehicle Company.

Sources

• Flink, James J. The Automobile Age. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1988.
• "America on the Move - Riker electric automobile". National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution. http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/collection/object_1289.html. 
• "Providence Horseless Carriage Race 1896". http://www.machine-history.com/PROVIDENCE%20HORSELESS%20CARRIAGE%20RACE. 

External Links

• A.L. Riker Photos and articles about the early years of the Riker Electric Vehicles