Europe - the birthplace of hybrids.(Opinion)

Automotive News Europe,  October, 2004  by Morton, Ian

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

Byline: Ian Morton

Hybrid systems are among today's hot environmental technologies, but it is ironic that Japan leads the field. Europe had the hybrid principle in its grasp long ago, and let it slip.

In 1904, a young electrical engineer named Ferdinand Porsche, working for Viennese carmaker Jacob Lohner, produced a hybrid propulsion system that he called "mixt." Electric motors in the wheels were powered through batteries linked to an on-board gasoline engine. Despite some success with race cars driven by Porsche himself, Lohner, who preferred big cars, was too ...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.