Electric Vehicle Museum Puts Kingman At The Crossroads of the Past & Future

By Jim Hinckley
By any standard it is a relatively small collection of vehicles. Still, the fact that the Route 66 Electric Vehicle Museum housed in the Powerhouse Visitor Center is the only one of its kind in the world ensures that it garners a wide array of media attention.
Most recently it was the subject of an Arizona Highways blog post. Learn the History of Electric Vehicles at Kingman Museum | Arizona Highways

Since its opening in 2014 during the International Route 66 Festival, an event aptly themed Kingman: Crossroads of the Past & Future, the embryonic museum has been the subject of feature articles published in Korean, Croatian, French, and German publications.
The initial vision for the project, a partnership between Kingman tourism and the Historic Electric Vehicle Foundation, was for a rotating exhibit at the Powerhouse Visitor Center, and a dedicated museum where the entire evolutionary history of the electric vehicle could be presented. The current exhibit includes vehicles as diverse as a 1905 package delivery truck, the 300-mile per hour Buckeye Bullet, and customized golf carts that once belonged to Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.
First impression of the museum by visitors is that the grand vision has stalled. Nothing could be further from the truth. Currently, there are ongoing discussions between the city manager in Kingman and the director of the foundation to develop a state of the art museum.
Additionally, a wide array of vehicles have been acquired and are either in storage or in the process of restoration. In recent correspondence Roderick Wilde of the Historic Vehicle Foundation noted the recent acquisition of some very unique and historically significant vehicles.
” I will be bringing the 1977 Silentia Swedish electric sports car out from the National Automotive and TruckMuseum in Indiana soon to have the body and paint work done on the nose. We also have a Tropica, so we have two sports cars. In addition, we have the donated EVcort in Cottonwood that originally cost $58,000.00. We were also recently donated an early 1900’s replica that I am having work done on to make it more period. My plan is to auction it off when done to raise money for the museum. Recently we received the donation of a Russian Oka electric car in excellent condition that I have to pick it up in Canada.”
The Route 66 Electric Vehicle Museum in the Powerhouse Visitor Center is but one part of a most interesting complex. On the upper floor is a critically acclaimed Route 66 museum, and a multi media display created by Bob Boze Bell that provides a window into the world of Kingman and Route 66 circa 1950’s.
Directly across the street is Locomotive Park dominated by a rare Baldwin built mountain type locomotive from the 1920’s with caboose. To the west of the park is the expansive Mohave Museum of History & Arts.
Kingman is truly at the crossroads of the past and future. Kingman is also on the fast track toward becoming a vacation destination.
Crossroads of the past & future

Crossroads of the past & future Today’s walkabout is through the worlds only electric vehicle museum.