The History Of The Hybrid Vehicle

By Colin Jones

Just where did a hybrid car get it's beginnings? Read on to find out. Hybrid cars are very popular to modern car buyers and there are many reasons why that should be. But before you even think about choosing a hybrid vehicle to buy, you might want to know a little bit about the history of the hybrid first.

It is surprising, but hybrid cars were invented even before gas-powered cars. In or about the year 1665, a Jesuit priest by the name of Ferdinand Verbeist started making plans for a new type of vehicle. That vehicle or cart would be very simple, nothing intricate. Dead simple was all he wanted.

So it was that Ferdinand planned out a car that would have four wheels and would run on steam. It took about fifteen years of sweat and toil for Ferdinand to complete his plan. He worked|laboured to perfect his dream vehicle. But no one knows for certain if he ever finished it because there is no evidence that his concept ever came into existence.

Then in 1769, a man with the name of Nicholas Cugnot designed and developed a carriage that was powered by steam. This carriage really did go and it went at six miles per hour. This project was all well and good, but it was difficult to get the amount of steam needed to allow the car to go any significant distance.

A break through in hybrid car development finally came when Robert Anderson developed an electric powered car in 1839. It was the first among its kind. The car was built in Scotland.

This model electric car was a highly applauded innovation of its time. However, the only problem was that it was very difficult to replenish the car's battery. Some pioneers did come after Anderson, but they had the same problem of getting the battery recharged easily.

Eventually, in the year 1898, Porsche developed an electric and fuel combination combustion engine that was the first of its type. The car was called the Lohner Electric Chaise and it could travel for up to 40 miles just using its batteries.

Soon, pioneers combined both gas and a battery powered engines to become what would turn into today's hybrid vehicle. In 1999, Honda made its jump into the US market. It came out with the Honda Insight, which was a lightweight two-door hybrid vehicle. Since then, hybrid vehicles have been evolving and improving into what we see on the roads today. Hybrid cars are no longer just for the techies who think it's nice to combine battery and liquid fuel to get them where they need to go. Hybrid cars started out simple, and they still are quite simple today.

Now hybrid cars are becoming more and more popular as people understand them more. Hybrid cars in the 21st century saw a boom in sales when the Toyota Prius came out on the market. It was the first hybrid with four doors that was marketed in America.

Then, Ford's Escape hybrid became the very first SUV hybrid ever made. So there, you have it, the history of the hybrid, today's modern car. - 21392

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