An electric vehicle has traveling units, first and second electric motors for driving the respective traveling units, a speed adjusting lever for adjusting a speed of the traveling units, a speed adjustment mechanism for generating a speed adjusting signal in response to operation of the speed adjusting lever, and a control unit for controlling rotation of the first and second electric motors in accordance with the speed adjusting signal generated by the speed adjustment mechanism. The speed adjusting lever has spot-turn switches operable to cause the respective electric motors to rotate in a reverse direction and simultaneously cause the electric motors to rotate in a forward direction, a rotational-angle restriction mechanism that restricts a rotational angle of a rotational operating member, and an automatic return mechanism that automatically returns the rotational operating member to a neutral position upon removal of an operating force having turned the rotational operating member in a first direction or in a second direction from the neutral position.