A Brief History of the Electric Wheelchair

The electric wheelchair, as we know it, is younger than most people think. While manual wheelchairs date back to the 16th century, the first practical powered chair didn't arrive until the late 1940s — built in a Canadian government workshop for injured World War II veterans.

The Klein chair (1953)

Canadian inventor George Klein led a National Research Council team that produced what most historians consider the first true electric wheelchair. It used a chain drive, two 12-volt batteries, and a simple joystick — three ideas that would define the category for the next 50 years.

The Everest & Jennings era

By the 1960s, American manufacturer Everest & Jennings had commercialized the design and dominated the U.S. market so thoroughly that the Department of Justice filed an antitrust case against them in 1977. The settlement opened the door for Invacare, Pride Mobility, and Sunrise Medical — names that still anchor the industry today.

Folding power (2010s)

For decades, electric wheelchairs were heavy steel rigs meant for full-time use. The folding power chair — light enough to lift into a trunk, simple enough to use part-time — only became commercially viable around 2014, when lithium-ion batteries finally got cheap and light enough.

Carbon fiber (2020s)

The next leap was material. Aluminum folding chairs typically weigh 50–60 lbs. Carbon fiber chairs introduced in the early 2020s cut that nearly in half — some weigh as little as 33 lbs without the battery. That single change makes the difference between a chair a caregiver can lift alone and one that requires a ramp or lift.

The story of the electric wheelchair is really a story about weight: every generation has been lighter, smaller, and more travel-friendly than the last.