The first Porsche in 1898- an electric car!

[66andBlue]

http://press.porsche.com/news/release.php?id=842
with photos here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25934289

[mdsalemi]

and it wasn't too much later that we had the first HYBRID!

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2013/03/21/hybrid-from-a-time-of-transition-the-1916-woods-dual-power-model-44/

The car in the blog is in the Henry Ford Museum collection in Dearborn, Michigan. Read that carefully if you are interested; things we associate with modern EV and hybrid cars were there in 1916!

[Cees Klumper]

It's actually not a Porsche if I understand correctly, but a Lohner.

Claiming it's a Porsche would be similar to Colombo's (grand-) children claiming that Ferrari's with Colombo-designed engines were actually 'Colombos'.

[66andBlue]

and it wasn't too much later that we had the first HYBRID!

The "first", really? 14 years too late!
As you wrote "Read that carefully if you are interested.."

"Ferdinand Porsche's next idea was just as pioneering: In 1900, the same year as the Paris Exposition Universelle, Porsche combined his battery-powered wheel-hub drive with a petrol engine - and the idea behind the serial hybrid drive was born. Known as the “Lohner-Porsche Mixte”, these vehicles went into series production in 1902."

At the Paris exposition there was another hybrid built by two Spanish inventors Emilio De La Cuadra and Carlos Vellino : http://www.microcaos.net/ocio/emilio-la-cuadra-vehiculos-la-cuadra/. Another hybrid from the same time period was the Belgian Pieper hybrid: http://histomobile.com/history.php?id=2097435&lan=1

I guess Ford was the Toyota of its time! Sorry Michael, I couldn't resist.  

[66andBlue]

Hi Cees,
well Porsche made sure that he gets the credit for the car:
"Ferdinand Porsche made sure that he would take credit for the vehicle's design in a most unusual manner: He engraved the code “P1” (P for Porsche, number 1) onto all of the key components, thus giving the vehicle its unofficial name."
At least according to the Porsche press release.

[Cees Klumper]

He gets credit AFAIK for having designed the powertrain. The vehicle manufacturer was Lohner and the p1 mark appears quite tiny next to the 'Jacob Lohner & Co' marks, so not much of a credit there.

[mdsalemi]

The "first", really? 14 years too late!

Ahh, the Lohner Porsche thing was an expensive science experiment! "Never homologated" I would guess...  

Oh, BTW, "The Henry Ford" is the name of a museum that was founded by Henry Ford the man (not the car company) and long since has no association with either. Except for the fact that you can take the Edsel Ford freeway to Ford Road, pass by Fairlane, the Henry Ford Estate, by Henry Ford Community College, and across the street from Ford Motor Company's test track and Ford Product development center and down the street from Henry Ford II Center which is the Ford Motor Company's world headquarters…if all that makes you tired, (and I know you are nearing retirement too, Alfred) there's probably room for you and your wife at Henry Ford Village If instead of being tired you are ill, we'll get you to Henry Ford Hospital. If it's not too severe, then Henry Ford Medical Center.

Aside from that…nothing to do with Ford…seriously.  

[garymand]

I suppose everyone knows what we call a diesel locomotive is actually a diesel driven electric drive?

No joke, the ford museum is a should see if not a must see.  They have the two original one piston factory generators and you can walk on it, The biggest Steam locomotive… They purchased historical Americana like Edison's lab and transplanted it for all to visit.  You can have lunch at a colonial road house. 

The day I was there, I spotted the water wheel driven lumber mill.  I was fascinated by the size of the saw blade all exposed with really big teeth.  I’ve been in lots of machine shops and have never seen something so peculiar There was a guy doing finishing touches on making the saw operational and a big log waiting to be milled.  After lunch we went back to see the chips fly, but there was an ambulance carting the guy off, minus his right hand.  There is a reason why we do not make some things the way we used to.   Thinking about why I wasn’t alarmed at the original sight, I think it was because it wasn’t turning.  I hope I would have recognized the danger if I had seen those big teeth moving out in the open and in the middle of a room.

[66andBlue]

Sorry dear Michael,
I accept your premise that I am an old fuddy, so when you wrote
" .... and it wasn't too much later that we had the first HYBRID!
naturally I assumed that "we" was your customary royal 'we'. Or did you mean perhaps "we = I and the Pope" ?  

In any case one can only guess what would have happened if the oil companies had not defeated the electric companies in the USA and the electric car (or a hybrid) would have been developed 100 years ago.