Between 1898 and 1901, a young Austrian fellow named Ferdinand Porsche (yes, that Porsche) developed a hybrid vehicle that used an internal combustion engine to charge onboard batteries. The Lohner-Porsche Mixte, as it was known, employed two electric motors mounted at the front wheel hubs to power them. Each motor was capable of 2.5 - 3.5hp and short bursts of up to 7hp. The absence of gears or drive shafts allowed for a frictionless drivetrain; all power going directly to the wheels.

The Lohner-Porsche Mixte was, in a word, a hybrid.

Meanwhile, across the pond, Connecticut-based Pope Manufacturing Company had partnered with two smaller companies to begin building electric vehicles. Amongst these was a hybrid designed by Philadelphia native, Justus B. Entz, who had cut his teeth as an electrician under the tutelage of Thomas Edison. Entz's enthusiasm for the new-fangled horseless carriage eventually led to the prototype Columbia Mark IX, a car that employed an internal combustion engine to power an electric drivetrain. Though the thing exploded unceremoniously (electric spark meets gasoline, a love story), Entz was awarded a patent for the otherwise sound design.

Interestingly, though the Columbia Mark IX was not publicly unveiled until the 1899 Paris Auto Show, it was built in 1897, making it arguably the first hybrid car - or "dual-power" automobile in the parlance of the time.

In 1900, a German by the name of Henri Pieper introduced a hybrid that used a gas engine from a dead stop but an electric motor for cruising speeds while the gas motor then charged onboard batteries. On inclines or under heavy load, the electric motor and engine worked in tandem to propel the vehicle. Pieper's hybrid system appeared in Auto-Mixte cars from 1906 to 1912.

The New York to Boston Reliability Test of 1902 revealed that dual-power cars performed as well as if not better than steam-powered and gas-powered cars. Moreover, early hybrids were proving to be easier to operate and manage than steam-powered machines (not much of a stretch), and cleaner than the big, greasy, oily, noisy, stinky, hand-cranked gasoline engine vehicles of the day. By mating an electric powertrain to an on board power generation source like an petite internal combustion engine, these hybrid vehicles were also able to overcome the lack of proper electric charging infrastructure - or what we now refer to as "range anxiety."

The hybrids concept was strongly supported by the many upstart and established electric car manufacturers of the time, which saw hybrids as a great marriage of two technologies netting reliable personal transportation.

One of the largest of these electric vehicle manufacturers was Ohio-based Baker Motor Vehicles. Ironically, though Baker was a late adopter of dual-power technology, it was among the earliest to drop it. It flip-flopped and claimed that the combination of an electric powertrain and internal combustion engine made the cars too heavy and too complicated.

The thing is, by 1913 the starter motor had been introduce, a new wonder of wonders that allowed to cars engines to "self-start." Meanwhile, Ford had made tremendous headway in cleaning up the dirtiness of gasoline engines. Doing away with much of the grime and the need to hand-crank a gas engine pretty much spelled the end for steam, electric and hybrid passenger cars.

Nevertheless, the Woods Motor Vehicles of Chicago stalwartly backed their dual-power machine hoping to compete in the automobile industry that was fast becoming dominated by gasoline powered cars. From 1911 to 1918, Woods' Dual Power Model 44 Coupe featured an electric drivetrain that could propel the car up to 24km/h, at which point a 4-cylinder gasoline engine would kick in for a top speed of about 56km/h. Alas, that was still slower than most gas power cars and more expensive to boot - reason enough for Woods to throw in the towel .

It would be almost 50 years before manufacturers began seriously working with hybrids again.

Then, in the late 1960s, three scientists at American automotive parts supplier, TRW, developed a practical hybrid drivetrain that would help automakers create vehicles that met Congress' requests for lower pollution-forming automobiles. The systems and technologies identified then are still used in hybrids today.

Throughout the 1970s, many major auto manufacturers and even privateer inventors researched, developed, and tested a myriad of hybrid vehicles. Among the notable results of these efforts was Volkswagen's Taxi, which looked like a hippie van while operating in a parallel hybrid configuration, allowing it to switch between electric motor and gasoline engine as loads required. The VW Taxi logged over 12,500km of drive tests and was shown at auto shows all over Europe and North America in the mid and late 1970s.

Another hybrid creation came from American privateers Victor Wouk and Charlie Rosen. Wouk, a highly educated and distinguished engineer, decided to work on a vehicle that would meet the demands of a government research project called the Federal Clean Car Incentive Program in 1974. Together with Rosen, Wouk converted a production spec Buick Skylark into a hybrid. It was the only vehicle to meet the guidelines set by the EPA for the FCCIP program. Despite this apparent success, the car was dismissed by the federal government and Wouk was largely ignored by auto manufacturers.

It would be another 20 years before Toyota and Honda became heavily involved with the creation of hybrids, which suddenly seemed like a great new idea, eco-friendly and viable.

Today, almost every major automaker has a version of "the next big thing" in its lineup; a dual-power vehicle, a hybrid. Who knew?
 
 

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