Ferdinand Porsche Built 1900’s First Hybrid Car With Wheel-Hub Motors
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 26
Ferdinand Porsche Built 1900’s First Hybrid Car With Wheel-Hub Motors
2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 26
Summary
At age 25, Ferdinand Porsche created the 1900 Lohner-Porsche Semper Vivus, described as the world’s first hybrid automobile nearly 100 years before the Prius.
The car paired electric drive with a solution to the short range that limited early battery vehicles, which otherwise depended solely on lead-acid batteries.
Its key engineering advance grew out of Porsche’s earlier System Lohner-Porsche, a battery-powered vehicle that used motors mounted directly in the wheel hubs.
That hub-motor layout eliminated much of the conventional drivetrain and simplified mechanical systems, a design approach still used today mainly in bicycles and some EV conversions.