"On the inventive past the ingenious future thrives". It's the motto I use to connect automotive pioneers with future technology. Knowledge of the technique permits me to offer you an easy to understand overview, as well as details, of hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), even if I do not own one at this time.

In 2004 a survey of 14,000 people found that only 14% of North Americans were aware of this new technology. The fact that you are reading this indicated that you already are, and wish to become more educated in matters of how green technology can bring sustainable transportation to developed and developing countries. I have always been passionate about automobiles, and I was fortunate in having worked with and on them in various branches of that industry, at times at the leading edge.

Lacking the digital savvy of a certain young person responsible for this site, I gladly accepted his invitation to contribute in a different way. Whenever interesting news comes my way, and it does daily from two major manufacturers and frequently from several more, I will pass it on to GreenHybrid readers. I feel privileged to share that information and some of my experience with people who are also enthusiastic about cars.

Automotive history having being part of my education, I learned that a young Ferdinand Porsche worked in 'mixed propulsion' more than one hundred years ago. In 1899 (another source quotes 1897) the young engineer was hired by the Austrian Lohner Carriage Company, when owner Jakob wanted to diversify into the new horse-less carriages. Porsche used a gasoline engine running at a constant speed to turn a dynamo, or generator, which charged a number of accumulators, or batteries. The current from these powered hub motors, modified to form part of the front wheels. This system eliminated the need for a gearbox, drive shafts or chain, and a clutch. This system, without the mechanical friction losses, had an amazing efficiency of 83%, as reported by a Thomas Scholz in his thesis.

The Lohner-Porsche was the sensation of the Paris World Exhibition in April of 1900, and more than 300 of these motorcars were sold. A new model had electric hub-motors on all four wheels, reaching speeds of 70 MPH (110 km/h); not bad in 1903.

During the first decade of the 1900s, General Electric in America and Siemens in Germany both produced electric cars as commercial vehicles as well as hybrids. The Paris Electric Car Company made various models between 1903 and 1907, including the Krieger hybrid. Does the Krieger not look very much like the Lohner-Porsche?

In 1906 Emil Jellinek of Mercedes fame bought the patent for the Lohner-Porsche system. Jellinek was instrumental in the Austro-Daimler firm, hiring Porsche at the same time. Daimler then produced the famous Mercedes-Electrique-Mixte. (Gottlieb Daimler licensed his engine to the Austrian and English Daimler companies.) We do not know very much about patent and copyright infringements of that time, and accurate information about some of the automotive pioneers of that era is lacking, vague or contradictory. From personal experience I can report that knowledge about several auto-buggies, built between 1902 and 1904 in Canada - even those incorporating patented parts - is almost non-existent. A nearby automotive museum had one of the vehicles on display, built in a town less than a three hour drive away, but was unable to obtain a complete history of its origin. (I'm grateful for today's Information Age!)

At more or less that time the name Pieper popped up, one report claimed that in 1900 a Belgian introduced a 3.5 hp "voiturette" with a small gasoline engine connected to an electric motor under the seat. When 'cruising' along, the electric motor acted as a generator, recharging the battery. When the vehicle went uphill, the coaxial motor boosted the engine. Between 1906 and 1912 the Belgian firm Auto-Mixte built commercial vehicles using the patent of the 'Henri-Pieper system'. Another report claimed an "American engineer H. Piper" applied for a patent for the same idea in 1905. Could it be that 'Henri' immigrated to America? My experience with the deplorable information from the same time span leads me to believe this is very likely. Does any reader have more insight (I like puns) into this?

Another oddity: A motor is an electrical device, but we call everything with an internal combustion engine (ICE) a motor-vehicle. Just a misnomer from the time when one third of all "motor-vehicles" were steam driven and another third were electric, before the "infernal consumption engine" silenced the quiet majority? In the year 1900, American car companies made 1,681 steam vehicles, 1,575 electric carriages and 936 gasoline auto-buggies. In a poll conducted at the first National Automobile Show in New York City, visitors favored the electrics as their first choice, followed closely by the steam-powered.

In Ontario, Canada, my adopted home, the Galt Motor Company introduced the Galt Gas Electric in 1914. A two cylinder two-stroke engine drove a 40 Volt, 90 Amp Westinghouse generator, a pure series hybrid. The last remaining one of these can be admired in a museum.

In 1917 the Woods Dual Power car was made by a Chicago firm notable for producing electric cars. It used a four cylinder Continental engine coupled to an electric motor, but could not drive faster than 35 MPH (56 km/h).

The availability of inexpensive petroleum fuels and improvements of internal combustion engines, together with the electric starter and the advances Henry Ford brought about with the assembly line and the inexpensive Model T, caused a decline of steam and electric vehicles at about this time.

The Owen Magnetic Model 60 Touring of 1921 was a noteworthy holdout, a proper hybrid with electric motors in each of the rear wheels. A gasoline engine powered a generator to produce the necessary current. A beautifully restored example won second place in the 1916-24 division at the 2004 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

From around 1890 to 1920, there were more than 100 manufacturers of electric cars in the U.S. and Canada, some of course producing no more than a handful of vehicles. The best known included the Baker Electric Company, Columbia Manufacturing, Detroit Electric, Electric Vehicle Company, Galt Motor Company, Milburn Wagon Company, Rauch & Lang, Riker Electric Motor Company of America, Studebaker, S.R. Bailey Co. and Woods Motor Company. In these early pioneer days of the auto industry three forms of 'power-train' were competing for public acceptance. Optimism ran high that storage batteries would become more efficient, extending the range of the 'silent servants' as they were called. Of the 4,200 sold in 1900, 38 percent were electric, 40 percent steam and 22 percent gasoline powered. Sales of electric motor vehicles peaked in 1912 with nearly 34,000. In addition, thousands of electric trucks and buses delivered goods and passengers. Figures for hybrid vehicles are not available.

Earlier that year, John M. Miller, PhD, gave a half-day workshop on just one aspect of hybrids, available at http://www.engin.umd.umich.edu/vi/w4_workshops/Miller_W04.pdf ; I think we should stick with the easier stuff!

I hope this article has given you the confidence to realize that Hybrid Electric Vehicles are not unproven ways for the automobile industry to comply with public and government demands for a cleaner, greener way to transport us into the future.

Part 2 of Hybrid History will offer insight into developments prior to Prius and Insight.

George Wand
189 Harbour Street, RR#3
Brighton, ON, Canada K0K 1H0