A Brief History of Hybrid Cars

A hybrid car is a car that has a conventional internal combustion engine propulsion system with an electric propulsion system. As the hybrid car has an electric powertrain, the car shows achieve better fuel economy compared to a conventional car.

A hybrid car can also exploit technologies such as regenerative braking, which converts the car's kinetic energy into battery-replenishing electric energy. Some varieties of hybrid cars also use their internal combustion engine to generate electricity by spinning an electrical generator. Hybrids produce less emissions from its Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) than a traditional fuel car.

The hybrid car concept can be dated back to 1898, when Ferdinand Porsche, the designer of the Volkswagen Beetle, was working on the Lohner-Porsche carriage. This carriage ran a one-cylinder fuel internal combustion engine which spun a generator that powered the four wheel-mounted electric motors. In 1901, he designed the Mixte based on his earlier System Lohner-Porsche electric carriage. The Mixte used a fuel engine that powered the generator, which in turn charged the electric hub motors with a small battery pack. It had a range of 50 km, a top speed of 50 km/h.

The 1915 Dual Power had a four-cylinder Internal Combustion Engine and an electric motor. This early car drew power from a battery pack when it is running below 25 km/h. If this car has to go beyond this speed, the "main" engine cut in to take the car up to its 55 km/h top speed. About 600 were made up to 1918.

In 1931 Erich Gaichen invented a new hybrid car on which later hybrids are based on. The maximum speed of Gaichen's electric car was 40 km/h. The battery of this car could be recharged by providing a cylinder of compressed air. It can also be recharged by the motor if the car went downhill.

Henney Kilowatt ushered in a series of hybrid cars. These transistor-based electric car paved way for the development of modern hybrid electric cars. In the 1960s and 1970s a new electric-hybrid car was made by Victor Wouk. He is considered as the Godfather of the hybrid cars. Wouk installed a sample electric-hybrid drivetrain into a 1972 Buick Skylark for the 1970 Federal Clean Car Incentive Program.

With the turn of the new century, the history of hybrid cars turned over a new leaf.

The corner stone of the modern development of hybrid cars is when the Japanese car makers ventured into the American market. Hybrid cars have been a huge success and production of hybrid cars went rampant. Honda Insight and Toyota Prius became the parent of modern day hybrid cars available today in the market.

India is going to have the largest manufacturing unit of hybrid cars in a couple of years.