Horse-drawn tram alongside the electric kind in Soho. (Image by the Brown Brothers.)

Taken in 1917, this photo shows the end of the line for horse-drawn trams in New York City, as the changeover to electric cars (the streetcar on the right, for example) was all but complete. The caption contained with this public domain image reads as follows: “Just before the last of these vehicles was banished from the streets of New York City, the photographer snapped one of them as it passed alongside a ‘Modern Electric Car.’ This photo was shot on Broadway just north of the intersection with Broome Street. The car is headed southbound.”

At this point, electric and steam-powered vehicles were still predominant in America, with the gas-guzzler taking a back seat. An excerpt from a post on reliableplant.com about automobiles in the United States in the year this photo was taken:

“It’s hard to believe, but 38 percent of vehicles in the U.S. were electric in that year; 40 percent were steam powered and only 22 percent used gasoline. There was even a fleet of electric taxis in New York City.

But between the limited range of EVs and a lack of infrastructure to support recharging, the market was crying for a new and cheaper source of auto power, and that came in the form of the internal combustion, gasoline-powered engine.”