Friday, August 15th, 2014, The Historic Electric Vehicle Foundation (HEVF) opened it’s first International Electric Vehicle Museum in Kingman, Arizona in conjunction with the Route 66 International Festival being held there. The theme for that year’s festival was ‘The Crossroads of the Past and the Future’. The name chosen for HEVF’s very first electric vehicle (EV) museum – the only one in the world solely dedicated to electric vehicles, was the ‘Route 66 Electric Vehicle Museum’.

The Route 66 Electric Vehicle Museum is the brainchild of Roderick Wilde. Wilde founded the Historic Electric Vehicle Foundation with support from the city of Kingman. A long-time proponent of electric propulsion, Wilde started racing electric vehicles in 1993 at Phoenix International Raceway. In 1995, he and his business partner Bob Rickard built what is considered the first all-electric hot rod. They fabricated the canary-yellow car, which is now in the museum, on a 1929 Ford Roadster.

Ohio State University students built the Buckeye Bullet 2.5 racecar (also on display). Because it was powered by lithium-ion batteries, the the car could go much faster than than it’s ancestor from the 1930s. The Buckeye Bullet zipped up to a staggering 320 mph (!) at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 2011.

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----------the museum will move into a 20,000-square-foot building------

In October 2021, the City of Kingman acquired a new 20,000 square foot facility in the Historic Downtown area to better accommodate the famous collection. Several firms have submitted architectural design proposals, which are currently being reviewed with renovations expected to begin in 2022. The City of Kingman and the Historic Electric Vehicle Foundation are working together to make this new exhibit a world class destination! 

The semi-permanent display of electric vehicles on loan from the Historic Electric Vehicle Foundation began with 10 vehicles in 2014. The exhibit has continued to grow and promises to be one of the most interesting collections of transportation artifacts you’ll see along the Mother Road!

The wide range of vehicles includes a 1909 Ellwell-Parker baggage tug (one of two known to exist in the world), the world’s first electric street rod (built by Wilde Evolutions in 1995), a 1930 Detroit Electric and several California manufactured electric micro cars from the 1940s, 50. s and 60s.

Other noteworthy exhibits on display include a Rolls-Royce-style EV golf cart once owned by Willie Nelson, a Mercedes-style EV golf cart once owed by Waylon Jennings, and the Buckeye Bullet 2.5 (pictured) which was the fastest EV in the world (clocked in at 307.6 mph) until the Buckeye Bullet 3 completed a test run at 341.26 mph in Sept 2016.

The micro cars were legislated off the roads in late 1960s by the newly formed Department of Transportation (precursor to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). In 1997, Canadian company Bombardier successfully lobbied the US government and small neighborhood electric vehicles became legal once more. The exhibit has a prototype Bombardier on display.