Porsche’s portfolio includes the 911, the iconic sports car with a combustion engine. Today, the company from Zuffenhausen near Stuttgart also offers models that are fully or partially electrified – the Taycan, the Panamera E-Hybrid and the Cayenne E-Hybrid – bringing the company back to its electric beginnings. Ferdinand Porsche, the later founder of the company and a great visionary, experimented with electricity at a young age. In 1898, at the age of 23, Ferdinand Porsche built his first electric car. For the Viennese carriage factory Ludwig Lohner & Co. he developed the electric wheel hub motor, which was installed in the front wheels of the model known as the “Lohner-Porsche”. This was presented to the public at the 1900 Paris Exposition and advertised with the reference to environmental compatibility that is still relevant today. The energy was stored in a 410 kg lead accumulator that enabled the car to reach a speed of 50 km/h and allowed for a maximum range of 50 km. Somewhat later, Porsche developed another version with four-wheel drive, fitting both the front and rear wheels with a hub motor. A lead accumulator weighing 1800 kg was used in order to increase the range, but the considerable weight of the Lohner-Porsche prevented any significant improvement. This is why Porsche went on to develop a hybrid electric vehicle with a battery charged by a combustion engine. As the Lohner-Porsche was not only heavier but also more expensive than the emerging cars with pure combustion engines, they were unable to compete. Only around 300 of these models were produced in total, 40 of which had been ordered by the Vienna Fire Brigade. The vehicles were used as taxis in various cities. Not for another 100 years would the Porsche company again become involved in electric mobility and take up the initial efforts of the company’s founder.
