Who built the first hybrid car?
This early hybrid was used a direct drive drivetrain where the electric motors were hub-mounted. The electric internal-pole motors were capable of generating upto 3.5 horsepower. Unlike today’s hybrid cars, the gasoline engine on this early hybrid car never powered the wheels but instead was used to recharge the batteries (today’s modern hybrid cars use regenerative breaking technologies as the primary method of recharging their batteries). One of the biggest downsides to what has become known as the Lohner-Porsche hybrid was the sheer cost and weight. The car required 1.8 tones of lead batteries and cost 15,000 Austrian Crowns, a substantial sum in 1901.
