On the way to Grand Canyon National Park, we stopped in Kingman, Arizona for some Route 66 history. Our Kingman adventure began in the historic Powerhouse Visitor Center with two museums, large scale model trains, Route 66 exhibits, a gift shop, and clean restrooms!
While at the Powerhouse, we toured the Arizona Route 66 Museum and the Route 66 Electric Vehicle Museum. A single $4.00 admission is good for both museums and the nearby Mohave Museum Of History And Arts, which we also visited before hitting the road once more.
Route 66 Electric Vehicle Museum
To enter the Route 66 Electric Vehicle Museum, you first walk through the Arizona Route 66 Museum, then head downstairs to a large warehouse space to see the collection of vehicles.
Added to the Powerhouse in 2014, the Route 66 Electric Vehicle Museum is a 3,600 square foot museum with several vehicles on loan from the world-wide Historic Electric Vehicle Foundation. The Historic Electric Vehicle Foundation seeks to preserve the history of electric vehicles from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century.
The museum originally opened with ten vehicles and has continued to grow over the years into one of the most interesting collections of transportation artifacts you’ll see on the Mother Road.
The wide range of vehicles on display include:
- A 1909 Ellwell-Parker baggage tug, one of only 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, 1950s, and 1960s
- A prototype Bombardier, a small neighborhood electric vehicle
After touring the museums, we walked across the street to check out the Route 66 Locomotive Park and Mr. D’z Route 66 Diner. Then after lunch, we walked through the Mohave Museum Of History And Arts before hitting the road again, bound for the Grand Canyon.
Know Before You Go
- The Route 66 Electric Vehicle Museum is located in the Powerhouse Visitor Center at 120 W Andy Devine Avenue #2, Kingman, Arizona 86401 across the street from the Locomotive Park and Mr. D’z Route 66 Diner and one block from the Mohave Museum of History and Arts.
- Open seven days a week. Closed on New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Easter Day, Fourth of July, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, the Friday after Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day.
- Admission for the Route 66 Electric Vehicle Museum is included with paid admission to the Arizona Route 66 Museum — $4.00 for adults/teens, $3.00 for seniors, and free for children 12 and under with a paying adult.
- Hours for the Powerhouse Visitor Center, Arizona Route 66 Museum, and Route 66 Electric Vehicle Museum are 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, with the last museum tour admitted at 4:00 pm.
