What was the name of the four-wheeled electric car built by Andreas Flocken in Germany in 1888?

The Flocken Elektrowagen was the four-wheeled electric car built by Andreas Flocken in Germany in 1888.

Andreas Flocken, a German inventor and engineer, developed the vehicle in Coburg. It is often described as the first four-wheeled electric car, although claims about the absolute first electric vehicle depend on how a vehicle is defined. Earlier electric carriages and small electric vehicles had already appeared in different countries.

The Flocken vehicle belonged to an early period when inventors were experimenting with steam, internal-combustion, and electric propulsion at the same time. Electric drive offered quiet operation and did not require the driver to manage a boiler or hand-crank an engine, but batteries were heavy and difficult to recharge.

Electric cars briefly became popular in some cities around the turn of the twentieth century. Cheap gasoline, expanding roads, and improvements such as the electric starter later favored internal-combustion cars. The Flocken Elektrowagen is remembered as an important early milestone in electric-vehicle history.