G.V.

General Vehicle Co. (1906-1920)
Long Island City, New York

This is a G.V. maker's serial plate (date unknown)    mjs
Size: 133mm wide 70mm high

The General Vehicle Company succeeded the Vehicle Equipment Company in 1906 (see V.E.C.). 

G.V. vehicles were battery-powered electric vans, trucks and buses produced in a wide variety of models. For 1907, nine different models were offered, from small 750-pound capacity vans to 5-ton capacity trucks. G.V. made its own storage batteries and used General Electric motors. Some models had the electric motors mounted mid-way on the chassis with power transferred to the rear wheels by chain. G.V. electric trucks were robust well built vehicles, which, although slow in action, were powerful and economic and were commonly in use for many years. 

From 1913, G.V. assembled Mercedes trucks under license (see G.V. Mercedes). In 1916, G.V. also built gasoline-electric tractors for the New York Sanitation Department. All G.V. production had ceased by 1920.

Emblem

Early G.V. trucks did not carry an obvious emblem for external identification, see example shown below:

G.V. electric truck with no emblem (c1910)    ms

However, the "General Vehicle" name was displayed on the hubcaps, see example shown below:

G.V. electric truck hubcap (c1910)     ms

G.V. electric vehicles also displayed the "General Vehicle" name on a small cast metal serial plate attached to the dash or under the driver's seat, see example shown above at the top of this post. Original G.V. serial plates are rare.

From about 1912, G.V. advertisements show a G.V. logo, see examples and logo shown below, but I have not found a photo showing this emblem on a vehicle:

G.V. ad with logo (1912)  chuckstoyland

G.V. electric truck ad with logo (1914)    chuckstoyland

This is the G.V. logo 

This logo was certainly displayed on the front of the driver's cab on some G.V. electric trucks built in Birmingham, United Kingdom from 1916 to 1935, see 1925 example shown below:

G.V. electric truck showing G.V. logo emblem (1925)   omm

Close up showing G.V. emblem (1925)

It is possible that the same emblem was used on some New York built G.V. electric trucks but I cannot confirm this.