First-ever Porsche vehicle was an electric car

The carriage-like looking vehicle above is, in fact, the first ever Porsche-designed vehicle. It was created by the founder of the luxury automaker, Ferdinand Porsche, in 1898, and has been in storage in an Austrian garage since 1902.

Beyond the sheer novelty of seeing the first-ever designed Porsche, what’s particularly fascinating about the car is that it is actually an electric vehicle.

In fact, its name is the Egger-Lohner electric vehicle C.2 Phaeton Model, or P1 for short.

Porsche was just 22 years old when he designed the P1 for carmaker Jacob Lohner. The company’s owner, Ludwig Lohner, had recently visited the U.S. and went back to Austria with the belief that the age of the horse and carriage was ending. With that in mind, he tasked Porsche with the job of creating an electric drive train. 

To power the vehicle, Porsche designed an “octagonal electric motor” motorized by electric batteries and suspended amid shock absorbers in the rear of the car. 

The car was driven using a 12-speed controller, which had six forward gears, two reverse gears, and four gears used for braking.

Additional technical data about the P1:
Gross weight: 2,977 lbs
Battery weight: 1,103 lbs
Motor weight: 287 lbs
“Tudor system” 44-cell accumulator battery; 120 amp hours
Continuous power of 3 hp, which can be overloaded to 5 hp (40-80 V) 

The P1 took to the streets of Vienna in June 1898, where it proved capable of achieving a top speed of 21 mph, a cruising speed of 15 mph, a driving time of 3 to 5 hours, and a travel range of 49 miles on a single charge.

Some additional interesting tid bits: the car could be styled as an open-air chassis, or as a coupe. Also, Porsche entered the P1 in a Berlin-based road race in September 1899, which challenged drivers to take their cars along a 24-mile course with four passengers (including the driver). The P1 handily beat all other cars in the race, crossing the finish line a full 18 minutes before the next car. 

 
Worth noting is an additional award given to the P1 at the time: least amount of energy consumed.

If you want to see the P1 for yourself, it’s part of an exhibition at the Porsche museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Germany. 

Story via porsche.com