Just where did a hybrid vehicle get it’s beginnings? Read on to find out. Hybrid cars are very popular for today’s car buyers and there are many reasons why that should be. But before you even think about picking which hybrid car to purchase, you might want to know a little about the history of the hybrid first.

It is surprising, but hybrid vehicles were invented even before gas-powered cars. In or about the year 1665, a Jesuit priest by the name of Ferdinand Verbeist began making plans for a new type of vehicle. That vehicle or cart would be very simple, nothing complex. Dead simple was all he was interested in.

So Ferdinand planned out a car that would have four wheels and would run only on steam. It took about fifteen years of work for Ferdinand to go through with his plan. He laboured to perfect his dream car. But no one knows if he ever finished because there is no evidence that his concept ever came into existence.

Then in 1769, a man by the name of Nicholas Cugnot developed a carriage that was driven by steam. This carriage did in fact work, and it could go at six miles per hour. This project was great, but it was difficult to get the amount of steam needed that would allow the car to go any significant distance.

A break through in hybrid car development finally came when Robert Anderson developed an electric powered car in 1839. It was the first among its kind. The car was built in Scotland.

This type of electric car was a highly applauded innovation of its time. But, the only problem was that it was extremely hard to replenish the car’s battery. Some pioneers did come after Anderson, but they had the same problem of getting the battery recharged easily.

Then there was another outstanding break-through, in the year 1898, Porsche brought out an electric and fuel combo combustion engine that was the first of its type. The car was called the Lohner Electric Chaise and it could travel for up to 40 miles using only its batteries.

Soon pioneers combined both a gas and a battery powered engine to power what would become today’s hybrid car. In 1999, Honda made a leap into the US market. It came out with the Insight. This was a lightweight two-door hybrid. Since then, hybrid cars have just been evolving and improving into what you see on the markets today. Hybrid cars are not just for techies who think it’s cool to combine battery and fuel power to get them where they need to go. Hybrid cars started out simple, and they are still simple today.

These days hybrid vehicles are becoming more and more popular as people understand them better. In the 21st century, hybrids saw a boom in sales when the Toyota Prius came out on the market. It was the first hybrid with four doors that was marketed in America.

Then, Ford’s Escape hybrid became the very first SUV hybrid ever made. So there, you have it, the history of the hybrid vehicle, today’s modern car.

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