A Brief History Of Hybrid Cars

The first difficulty with working out which was the first hybrid vehicle, is deciding what the term 'hybrid vehicle' means. For example, a barge being pulled by a horse with the current of the canal might be construed as a hybrid vehicle. However, most people these days will agree that a true hybrid vehicle utilizes a 'rechargeable energy storage system' or an RESS.

For example, this could define a vehicle that uses one form of propulsion, such as an internal combustion engine as its main form of propulsion, whilst that engine recharges batteries that can also be used to run an electric engine.

I am certain that it will surprise 90% + of people to hear that the history of hybrid vehicles is almost as long as the history of automobiles themselves. Porsche is a famous make of expensive sports cars, but in 1898 Ferdinand Porsche, a young Czech student, designed the Loher-Porsche one-cylinder internal combustion engine.

However, this engine was used to drive an electric generator, the electricity from which was used to power electric motors which were affixed to every of the four wheels. The petrol engine was used merely to produce electricity for the electric motors in this early case.

This early hybrid was exhibited at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 and was capable of travelling at 35 mph (56 kph). In 1901, Porsche drove it himself to win the Exelberg Rally. After this they sold more than 300 units of their early hybrid car. Mass production had not been invented yet and rich people were still sceptical about the new, malodorous technology.

1959 was the next landmark in the history or hybrids because petrol was not expensive and not many individuals, if any, foresaw the future for the world and the environment. Anyway, the car invented, the Henney Kilowatt used the early transistors or those days to regulate the flow of electricity. This was the true precursor to contemporary hybrid cars.

One of the inventors of the Henney Kilowatt was Victor Wauk and he was involved in the process of experimenting with electric cars in the Sixties and Seventies. Sometimes, he is called the Godfather of Hybrid Vehicles.

It is quite remarkable, but the regenerative braking system used by contemporary hybrids to help recharge a hybrid's batteries was invented in 1978 by the electrical engineer, David Arthurs..

It then took until president Bill Clinton took the initiative to instigate the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles in 1993. It involved the Dept of Energy, Chrysler, ford, GM and one or two others. G. W. Bush replaced this program with his own FreedomCar Initiative in 2001.

This initiative was designed to finance extraordinarily risky or difficult projects for the development of hybrid cars. It has taken us more than 100 years to rejuvenate the initial hybrid concept but we only did that because we were forced to do it.