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Originally Posted by Perfectlap
Porsche going Al Gore
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When I saw your title, my first thought was some Porsche analog to Al Gore inventing the Internet.
Actually, the original Dr P's first car design in in 1898, was the "System Lohner-Porsche", a carriage-like car driven by two electric motors, directly fitted to the front wheels, and powered by batteries. The problem was the weight of the batteries hindered performance. Porsche rethought the design and in 1901 introduced the 'Mixte' vehicle/transmission concept: instead of a massive battery-pack, an internal combustion engine was fitted to a generator to drive the electric hub motors and (for vehicle reliability) a small battery pack. This way Porsche had created the first petroleum electric hybrid vehicle on record. Not quite the same way Al Gore invented the Internet, but Porsche really did invent the hybrid car.
See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Porsche#Early_years for more details