Porsche’s 1896 electric car
At full power, 1898 vehicle hit 35 km/h
STUTTGART, Germany — Since 1948, beginning with the Type 356, Porsche has been renowned for its sports cars and motorsport history. However, the brilliance of founder Ferdinand Porsche goes back even further — 50 years further — to when the young Bohemian engineer began to direct his interest to electric vehicles.
On Jan. 27, the Porsche Museum here in Stuttgart unveiled Ferdinand Porsche’s earliest work, an original, unrestored Egger-Lohner electric vehicle C.2 Phaeton from 1898, known as the P1. Of three built, it is the only one known to exist.
More or less resembling a horse-drawn wagon, the P1, designed and built by the 23-year-old Porsche while he was working for the Lohner carriage company, was discovered in a warehouse in Austria last year, where it had been parked since 1902.
Dieter Landenberger, the historical archivist at the museum, looks positively beatific when describing the find. Going to see it in Austria, he says, “was one of the highlights of my life. When I saw the car for the first time, I had shivers.”
Purchased by the automaker for an undisclosed sum, it is now the centrepiece of the Porsche Museum.
History has it that to ensure he would take credit for the its design, Ferdinand engraved the code “P1” — P for Porsche, No. 1 — into all key components, giving the vehicle its unofficial name.
For the P1’s drive, Ferdinand used an electric motor in an octagon-shaped housing. The museum says shock absorbers were used to protect the electric motor, which was suspended so that it oscillated around the vehicle axle.
Weighing 130 kilograms, the compact electric drive had an output of three horsepower. For short periods, up to five horsepower could be achieved in “overloading” mode, allowing the P1 to reach up to 35 km/h.
To transfer power, a singlespeed differential was used. Vehicle speed was regulated via a 12-speed controller. To enable this setup, says the museum, Ferdinand coupled the commutators of the electric motor both consecutively and in parallel. Thanks to the 500-kg batteries, the 1,350kg P1 could travel up to 80 kilometres, or three to five hours of operation. A further innovation was the Lohner’s alternating body, which allowed the P1 to be used in both summer and winter.
In September 1899, a race for electric cars over a 40-km distance to test their capabilities and performance took place in Berlin. With three passengers on board, Ferdinand Porsche won with the P1, finishing 18 minutes ahead of the next competitor. More than half the participants failed to reach the finish line because of technical problems, while others were disqualified because they failed to meet the specified minimum speed.
In November 1899, Porsche became Lohner’s chief designer, where he started working on his next idea: the electric wheel-hub motor. The following year, a Lohner-Porsche, driven by steered wheel-hub motors, caused great excitement at the Paris Exposition.
While unveiling the P1, the museum also debuted the new 918 Spyder, the company’s hybrid sports car. Drawing parallels to the P1, Porsche declared the 918 to be the first production vehicle to have three independent power units that can be controlled separately.
The 608-hpV-8-engine and 156-hp rear electric motor are arranged in series and drive the rear wheels via the PDK transmission. The second electric motor (129 hp) acts on the front wheels via a single-stage transmission and a decoupler.