History of Hybrid Cars:

Evolution of Hybrid Cars:

Hybrid vehicles have a long history. Though hybrid cars invention started centuries ago, the mass production of gas-electric cars by FORD suppressed the hybrid industry. As the gas prices stared to increase at a higher pace, automobile manufacturers started building cars that use alternate fuel technology. Honda Insight was the first car to hit American roads in large production. As of now, the total hybrid cars in United States is only 1% of the total number of cars. It takes time for people to embrace new technology. And if the gas prices keeps on increasing at the current pace, the day is not far when there will be more hybrid cars than gas cars.

A timeline of electric cars that helps understand the history of gas-electric hybrid vehicles.

1839:

Scotland's Robert Anderson built the first electric car. Over the years, numerous attempts were made to improve on Anderson’s vehicle. The batteries at this time were heavy so performance was poor. The longer range electric cars were made possible after the invention of high efficient batteries.

1842:

More successful electric vehicles were invented by, American Thomas Davenport and Scotsmen Robert Davidson. Both inventors were the first to use non-rechargeable electric cells.

1865:

Frenchmen Gaston Plante invented a better storage battery in 1865 and his fellow countrymen Camille Faure improved the storage battery in 1881. This improved-capacity storage battery paved the way for electric vehicles to flourish.

1870:

Sir David Salomon built a car with a light electric motor and heavy storage batteries. Unfortunately the car of the speed was very slow.

1886:

The first electric powered taxicab was invented in England with a small electric motor and a battery that had twenty-eight cells.

1888:

Immisch & Company built a four-passenger carriage, powered by a 1hp motor and 24-cell battery, for the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. In the same year, Magnus Volk in Brighton, England made a three-wheeled electric car.

1890 – 1910:

A number of significant improvements in battery technology such as development of the modern lead-acid battery by H. Tudor and nickel-iron battery by Edison and Junger led to the longer range hybrid cars.

1897:

The first commercial application was established as a fleet of New York City taxis, built by the Electric Carriage and Wagon Company of Philadelphia. The London Electric Cab Company used cars designed by Walter for their regular service. The Pope manufacturing Company of Hartford, Connecticut, built around 500 electric cars over a 2-year period. It is the first large-scale operation in the American automobile industry. The company had assets of $200 million.

1898:

In 1898 Dr Ferdinand Porsche at the age of 23, then a young engineer at Jacob Lohner & Co, built the first Hybrid Vehicle or more specifically the first Hybrid Car. It was using an internal combustion engine to spin a generator that provided power to electric motors located in the wheel hubs. The car could travel 40 miles only on battery power.

1903 Lohner- Porsche at Norvegian Technical Museum

1898-99:

General Electric produced electric cars and built a hybrid with a four-cylinder gasoline engine.

1899:
The Woods Motor Company of Chicago was founded and sold electric vehicles until 1919.

1900:

In the year 1900, American car companies made 4,200 automobiles. Of these, 38 percent (1575) were electric, 40 percent (1681) steam and 22 percent (936) gasoline powered. In a poll conducted at the first National Automobile Show in New York City, patrons favored electric and the steam their second choice.

1900:

A Belgian maker, Pieper, introduced a 3-1/2 horsepower "voiturette" in which the small gasoline engine was mated to an electric motor under the seat. When the car was "cruising," its electric motor was in effect working as a generator, recharging the batteries. But when the car was climbing a grade, the electric motor, mounted coaxially with the gas engine, gave it a boost. It was a crude but uncanny anticipation of the new Honda hybrid's "integrated motor assist" (IMA) system. The patents were used by a Belgium firm, Auto-Mixte, to build commercial vehicles from 1906 to 1912.

1903:
Krieger Hybrid used a gasoline engine to supplement a battery pack. As you can see it is nearly identical to the 1903 Lohner-Porsche. Ford Car manufacturer Henry Ford’s fast assembly line and the advent of the self-starting gas engine signaled a rapid decline in hybrid cars by 1920.

1904:

The Electric Vehicle Company built 2000 taxicabs, trucks, and buses, and set up subsidiary cab and car rental companies from New York to Chicago. Smaller companies, representing approximately 57 auto plants, turned out about 4000 cars.

1904:

Henry Ford overcame the challenges posed by gasoline-powered cars—noise, vibration, and odor—and began assembly-line production of low-priced, lightweight, gas-powered vehicles. Cheap petrol and advances in ICE and automobile production in general (Henry Ford) gradually killed off the Hybrid "Cars" and Electric vehicle company.

1905:

An American engineer named H. Piper filed a patent for a petrol-electric hybrid vehicle. His idea was to use an electric motor to assist an internal-combustion engine, mainly to augment the ICE to let the vehicle accelerate to 40 kilometers (25 miles) per hour in 10 seconds, instead of the usual 30. By the time the patent was issued, three and a half years later, engines had become powerful enough to achieve this kind of performance on their own.

1905:

A brand of Hybrid car by the name of The Woods Interurban offered the first true Hybrid car. When traveling long distances, the driver could switch the power from the electric motor to a 2-cylinder engine. Unfortunately, this process took 15 MINUTES! And was rejected by customers.

1910:

Introduction of Commercial hybrid truck with a four-cylinder gas engine to power a generator, eliminating the need for both transmission and battery pack. This hybrid was built in Philadelphia until 1918.

1913:
With the introduction of the self-starter (making it easy for all drivers to start gas engines), steamers and electric cars were almost completely wiped off. In this year, sales of electric cars dropped to 6,000 vehicles, while the Ford Model T sold 182,809 gasoline cars.

1914:

The Galt Motor Company rolled out the Galt Gas Electric, a pure series hybrid that featured a two-cylinder, two-stroke engine of 10 horsepower driving a 40-volt, 90-amp Westinghouse generator. It was claimed the Galt could wring 70 miles from one gallon of gasoline or, alternately, do 15 to 20 miles on the battery alone. But a top speed of about 30 mph sent potential buyers to more powerful, speedier alternatives.

1917:

Woods offered its Dual Power model which involved electric motors and a gasoline engine working in unison to run the vehicle at 35 mph. Running solely on electric power, the vehicle could only just manage 20 mph.

1920 – 1965:

Mass-produced electric and hybrid cars were put to a pause. Only people built some hybrid electric vehicles out of interest with low rate production.

1966:

U.S. Congress introduced first bills recommending use of electric vehicles for reducing air pollution.
Hybrid cars did not appear again until the in 1960's and 1970's, when cars like the 1965 GM512 and especially the 1973 VW Taxi Hybrid Vehicle which was produced in the wake of the Arab Oil embargo.
But Hybrid Vehicle technology did not lose its development process. It continued and you can see the results today in the markets.

1969:

The GM 512, a very lightweight experimental hybrid car, ran entirely on electric power up to ten miles per hour. For lower speeds it used a combination of batteries and its two-cylinder gas engine. Above thirteen miles per hour, the GM 512 ran on gasoline. It could only reach 40 miles per hour.

1970s:

The price of gasoline increased with the Arab oil embargo of 1973, which led to the interest in hybrid electric vehicles. The U.S. Department of Energy ran tests on many electric and hybrid vehicles produced by various manufacturers, including a hybrid known as the “VW Taxi” produced in Volkswagen in Wolfsburg, West Germany.

1975:
The US Post Office was testing electric vans for short-run mail delivery. U.S Energy Research and Development Administration began a program to advance hybrid technology.

1977-79:

General Motors spends over $20 million in electric car development and research, reporting that electric vehicles could be in mass production by the mid-1980s.

1980-97:
Various automobile companies, as well as independent inventors continue to improve upon the theory of Hybrids, creating many proto-types and plans. These years are considered to be important in Hybrid history because the computer started to be used in Hybrids to help increase their efficiency.

1992:
Toyota Motor Corporation announced the "Earth Charter," a document outlining goals to develop and market vehicles with the lowest emissions possible.

1997:
Toyota Prius went on sale to the public in Japan. First-year sales were nearly 18,000.

1997 - 1999:
A small selection of all-electric cars from the big automakers—including Honda’s EV Plus, GM’s EV1 and S-10 electric pickup, a Ford Ranger pickup, and Toyota’s RAV4 EV—were introduced in California. Within a few years the enthusiasm was again dropped.

1999:
Honda released the two-door Insight, the first hybrid car to hit the mass market in the United States. The Honda Insight won numerous awards, with a EPA mileage ratings of 61 mpg city and 65mpg highway.

2000
Toyota released the Toyota Prius, the first hybrid four-door sedan available in the United States.

2002
Honda introduces the Honda Civic Hybrid. Honda Civic hybrid is the second commercially available hybrid gasoline-electric car. The appearance and drivability of the Civic is similar to the conventional Civic.

2004:
Due to more demand for Hybrid cars modesls, Honda and Toyota increased production rates by about 20-30%. Toyota is selling more cars than they can produce and has stopped advertising. Other companies see the potential for Hybrid cars and SUVs. Ford releases the Escape Hybrid, the first American hybrid and the first SUV hybrid.

2005:
Toyota released its newest Prius 2005. Toyota is going to produce its best selling car Toyota Camry hybrid in the late 2006. Saturn SUV from GM and Toyota highlander are expected in 2005.