Did you know that the first Porsche car was an electric one?

Unique ONES - One of the leading automotive manufacturers from Germany Porsche, in this year of 2023 entering the age of 75 years since it was first founded by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche on June 9, 1948. As time goes by, the German automaker has a long journey in producing many kind of motorized vehicles, ranging from small scale automaker up to becoming one of the world's automotive giants.

The world's first functional hybrid car named the Semper Vivus (Latin for always alive) by Ferdinand Porsche in 1900. (Picture from: Carmudi)

Besides that, Porsche also has a shiny reputation in the world's car racing. But did you know that the history of this German manufacturer begins with electric-powered vehicles? As quoted from Newsroom.Porsche, the founder of the company of the same name was fascinated by electricity even as a teenager. As early as 1893, the 18-year-old installed an electric lighting system in his parents' house.

The first electric-powered vehicle named Egger-Lohner C.2 Phaeton designed by Ferdinand Porsche which had been stored in an Austrian garage since 1902. (Picture from: BBC)

In the same year, he joined Vereinigte Elektrizitäts-AG Béla Egger in Vienna. After four years working in there, he steadily progressed from mechanic to head of the testing department. The first vehicle he designed also had an electric drive, so it's not wrong to say that Porsche's history begins with electric vehicles developtment.

The first electric-powered vehicle named Egger-Lohner C.2 Phaeton designed by Ferdinand Porsche powered by a rear-mounted electrical engine which could reach speeds of 21 miles per hour. (Picture from: BBC)

Once upon a time in 1898, the company where he worked collaborated with a coachbuilder company, Jacob Lohner & Co. As the result at that time was an electric vehicle named Egger-Lohner C.2 Phaeton which can be categorized as one of the world's first electric cars. 

The Porsche's first electric-powered vehicle was the most energy-efficient car in an 1899 Berlin road race. (Picture from: BBC)

The vehicle was powered by an octagonal electric motor capable producing 3 to 5 hp, made it run up to a top speed of 25 kph only. Only a year later precisely in 1899, Ferdinand Porsche joined with the Viennese coachbuilder Hofwagenfabrik Ludwig Lohner & Co. which known later in early of 1950s to be a scooter manufacturer.

The first electric-powered vehicle named Egger-Lohner C.2 Phaeton aka P1 or 'Porsche No.1' designed by Ferdinand Porsche in 1898 under commissioned of Jacob Lohner & Co. (Picture from: BBC)

There he developed the electric wheel hub motor. In 1900, the first Lohner-Porsche Electromobile applied with this innovation was presented at the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris. Also in 1900, Porsche designed the world's first functional hybrid car, the Semper Vivus (Latin for 'always alive'). As a plug-in hybrid concept, the Semper Vivus also runs long distances purely on battery power. 

The first electric-powered vehicle named Egger-Lohner C.2 Phaeton while sat on display the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Germany, the plastic placeholders show the original design. (Picture from: BBC)

The combustion engine must be used again to recharge the battery. To save weight and create space for the petrol engine, Ferdinand Porsche swapped the original 74-cell acceptor in his electromobot with a smaller battery of only 44 cells.

Ferdinand Porsche developed his first EV, the P1 or 'Porsche No.1' in 1898, the replica as shown above in the Porsche museum in Stuttgart, Germany. (Picture from: HydraEV)

For the combustion engine, the Semper Vivus relies on a 3.5 hp water-cooled DeDion Bouton petrol engine which is positioned in the middle of the vehicle. The machine also generates electricity which is operated independently, each delivering 20 amperes at a voltage of 90 volts. The technology, marketed as the Lohner-Porsche system, also had applications beyond the sphere of electric vehicles.

Even Ferdinand Porsche had stamped each part of the vehicle with P1, to differentiate it from other models. (Picture from: BBC)

Porsche extended the car's range by not using a battery as an energy source, but instead using a petrol combustion engine to drive a generator and thus supply the wheel hub with electrical energy. One year later, the production-ready version was born as the Lohner-Porsche Mixte. With a front four-cylinder engine, this model copied the Mercedes concept vehicle recently designed by Wilhelm Maybach.

Ferdinand Porsche also designed the world's first functional hybrid car in 1900 called the Semper Vivus (Latin for always alive), and marketed as the Lohner-Porsche system. (Picture from: Porsche)

However, the Lohner-Porsche also demonstrated why electric mobility has failed over the decades; despite its modest power output, the car weighed almost two tonnes. The lack of infrastructure and the short range put an end to electromobility for a long time.

Ferdinand Porsche developed a revised concept hybrid electric car for mass production under the name Lohner-Porsche Mixte in 1901. (Picture from: Carmudi)

The idea was resurrected more than 100 years later: With the development of lithium-ion batteries suitable for use in vehicles and ever more stringent legal requirements for pollutant and carbon dioxide emissions, the focus turned once more to electric drive systems.

Ferry Porsche (centre), his father Ferdinand Porsche (right) and Erwin Komenda (left), 1948, in front of the 356 No. 1 in Gmünd. (Picture from: Motor1)

On this modern day the Stuttgart-based automotive company managed to pave the way for electromobility in the company through Cayenne S Hybrid in 2010. And its development is running rapidly so that now the new Porsche Taycan GTS charges the Porsche electric driving experience with even more intense emotions.

Not only that, recently Porsche has launched another dream all-electric supercar come to set a new world's record at the Nürburgring racing circuit through the Porsche Mission X. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | BBC | PORSCHE | HYDRAEV.CO.UK ]

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