Hybrid Cars

1665

The plan to launch the first hybrid cars were made as early as 1665. It was first tried in 1769 when a Frenchman, Nicholas Cugnot built a steamed motor carriage that was capable of doing 6 miles an hour. The next trial was made in 1825 when British inventor G.Gurney built a steam car did an 85 mile journey in 10 hours.
Few years later in1839, Robert Anderson of Scotland built the first electric vehicle. Soon Sir David Solomon Developed a light electric motor and very heavy storage battery car which had a poor driving range and speed. It was in 1886 when the first electric powered taxicab was introduced in England for the first time. It used a battery with 28 cells.

Between 1890-1910 , there were many improvements in battery technologies. New batteries were introduced like Tudor’s lead-acid battery or nickel-ion battery developed by Edison and Junger.

Young German Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, in 1898, built the Lohner Electric Chaise. It was the world’s first front wheel drive. His second car, a hybrid that travelled 39 miles on batteries alone. The next year saw Pope Mfg. Company merging with two smaller electric companies to form the first large scale operation in American automobile history. It was called Electric Vehicle Company and it had assets of about $200 million.

1900 was the year of the first Automobile Show. It was conducted in New York City after Americans car manufacturers had made 1681 steam, 1575 electric and 936 gasoline cars. People preferred electric as their first choice and steam followed a close second.
Between the years 1900 and 1990, there were many new inventions in hybrids. There was the gasoline electric engine by Krieger, the failed electric-gas powered vehicle by Woods Interurban, the small cars by General Motors and Toyota. Few of them succeeded and the rest weren’t as successful.

The main research and production of hybrids was seen after the 1990s when most of the firms started planning hybrids. They had this in their mind, that the future of automobiles belong to hybrids. Related to this, Toyota Motor Corp. announced a goal setting document which highligted developing cars with lowest emissions possible. This was known as the ‘Earth Charter’.
In 1997, Toyota launched its ambitious car in Japan, the Prius which was to be previously launched in 1999. Their first year sales crossed 18000 units. During the same year, Audi launched a vehicle based on its A4 variant. It was the first hybrid car that was produced in volumes. It had a 90bhp 1.9 litre Tdi engine and a 29 bhp electric powered motor. It did not do well commercially and hence was discontinued.

Soonafter 1997, electric cars like Honda’s EV Plus, GMs EV1 and Ford Ranger Pick-up were introduced in California but the interest for these cars soon subsidied. Hence all these models were dropped. Honda, a key player, in 1999 launched its two-door Insight which was a instant hit. It also won many awards for its mileage in city as well as on highway.

The Toyota finally launched it first four-door hybrid, the Prius in the the United States.
2002 was the year when Honda introduced the Honda Civic Hybrid, its second commercial launched hybrid gasoline-electric car after Insight. The appearance and drivability of the Civic Hybrid was (and still is) identical to the conventional Civic.

Toyota Prius II won 2004 Car of the Year Awards from Motor Trend Magazine and the North American Auto Show. Toyota was taken by a pleasant shock to see the demand of the vehicle and ramped up its production from 36,000 to 47,000 cars for the United States. Interested buyers had to wait upto 6 months for the 2004 Prius. Toyota Motor Corp. Sales President U.S.A. Jim Press termed it “the hottest car we’ve ever had.”

In September 2004, Ford launched the Escape Hybrid. It was the first hybrid from an American Manufacturer and the first SUV hybrid across the globe.