Although the electric cab has the advantage of being a smaller vehicle and therefore more adapted to economical propulsion by storage batteries, the conditions of the cab service are not at all favourable to the system. The essential feature of a cab is that it should be available anywhere, to go anywhere at a moment's notice. An accumulator-driven vehicle, on the other hand, is tied by an invisible cord to the charging station. Even if charging stations were multiplied enormously, the electric cab would have no real freedom of action, since several hours are required for the process of re-charging. We have only to compare the limitations of the electric cab with the freedom of the petrol cab (which can renew its supply of petrol in a minute or two at any motor depot) to realise that the roving commission is not at all suited to the former. In 1899 a very bold effort was made to establish an electric cab service in London. To inaugurate the service a procession of the cabs was formed, but it excited more ridicule than serious interest. The clumsy appearance of the cabs was against them; and their behaviour was not satisfactory enough--as to speed and reliability--to overcome the first unfavourable impressions. They soon disappeared, to add another failure to the long list of disappointments in connection with accumulator traction. The private electric automobile remains, however, because it has been organised under conditions which suit the peculiarities of the storage battery. Its survival, in conjunction with the failure of a similar means of transit for tramway, omnibus, and public cab services, has pointed to another direction in which the electric automobile should be a commercial possibility. That is, in connection with the local distribution of goods from large stores and other centres. The United States have given a very distinct lead in this matter. In New York, Chicago, Washington, and other large cities the electric automobile for private use is highly developed and there is also an extensive service of electric vehicles ranging in size from a small parcels van to a large lorry capable of carrying loads up to several tons. No doubt the local cost of other means of transport has something to do with this American development, which has, moreover, been strongly supported by the companies which supply electricity to the public. But the fundamental reason lies in the special character of the service demanded.