People believe that the hybrid car came into being in early 20th century. Actually hybrid vehicles were there from an earlier time. The beginning of the hybrid car technology was thought to be around 1665, when a Jesuit priest named Ferdinand Verbiest started work on a project that envisaged a simple vehicle with 4 wheels that could be driven by steam or be drawn by a horse.
The first steam powered carriage was built in 1769. Though this carriage could travel at 6 mph, yet it was difficult to hold sufficient steam for a ride that was somewhat long. It was updated by Goldsworthy Gurney, a British inventor who built a steam carriage that successfully ran on a round trip of 85 miles in 10 hours.
In the year 1893 Moritz Von Jacobin set to sail an electric boat fitted with an electromagnetic type 1 hp. engine, on the river Neva. Around the same year, the 1st electric car was built by Robert Anderson of Scotland. But this early vehicle was fraught with many problems such as its limited range and battery power that could not be readily recharged.
David Solomon improved the electric car in 1870 by fitting a light-duty electric motor to it, but the problem of battery recharging was still there. Then Werner Von Siemens built the 1st electric railway in 1879. The wheels of the train got their power from an electric motor that got its supply of electricity from the pair of rails. These rails were connected to an electrical generator and were insulated from ground contact.
In 1886 some businessmen of London were interested in developing a taxicab powered by electricity. The prototype had a little electric motor driven by one 28 cell battery. But this vehicle did not enter into regular service on the roads of London.
In 1888 a 4-passenger electric car, powered by a 1 hp motor and one 24 cell battery, was built for the Sultan of erstwhile Ottoman Empire. Manus Volk of England built a 3-wheeled electric car in the same year.
In the year 1897, London Electric Cab Co., started to ply their cab, powered by a 3 hp motor and a 40 cell battery, in the city on regular services. This cab, invented by Walter Belsey, could travel 50 miles on a single charge of the battery. In the same year Pope Manufacturing Co., of Connecticut started to build electric cars over a period of 2 years.
In 1898 Ferdinand Porsche of Austria built the 1st hybrid car of the world, christened Semper Vivus (always alive). This car had a petrol engine with a steady rpm to drive a dynamo that charged a set of batteries. The batteries supplied power to the electric motors mounted on the front wheels. This arrangement did away with the need for the clutch, gear, chain, transmission or drive shaft. This hybrid car could travel 40 miles on only battery power. Since this car was immensely successful, other manufacturers followed suit and produced electric cars in the years 1902 to 1920.
In 1913 electric cars and steamers were almost out of the picture, with the advent of gasoline-powered cars and diesel-powered vessels. The sales of electric vehicles plummeted to six thousand whereas the sales of gasoline-powered cars rose to nearly two hundred thousand in the US. Some electric cars were more costly but less powerful than their gasoline counterparts, and their sales dwindled.
So the years 1920 to 1965 became a dormant period for the electric cars and the hybrid cars. But hybrid car technology continues to exist and has become the answer for several global environment issues.
In 1966 US Congress recommended the use of electric cars to lessen air pollution. So after a long silence the hybrid cars reappeared in 1969, with General Motors’ 512, a dual-power car. In 1973 the Arab oil embargo was a big issue, and gasoline prices rose, thereby creating renewed interest in electric cars.
From 1976 onwards several manufacturers like Volkswagen, Buick, American Motors, Audi, and Toyota began developing hybrid cars.
So the 21st century has begun on an optimistic note for hybrid car technology. Many car manufacturers are introducing and improving their own hybrid cars. The unprecedented increase in oil prices in 2007 created a global crisis, which has pushed up the production of the hybrid cars by several car makers. The development of hybrid cars has the answer for the issues of ever increasing oil prices and air pollution in the cities.
