English-speaking car lovers may disagree on how to pronounce it, but they seldom argue about what a huge impact Porsche has had on the automotive industry.  Few realize, though, that the first car ever designed by Ferdinand Porsche was electric.  By 1948, when Porsche introduced the Type 356 as their first production vehicle and the first sports car to bear the Porsche name, Ferdinand already had several decades of automotive experience under his belt.  In fact, he began his distinguished design career in the 19th Century.  At the young age of 22, in 1898, Ferdinand worked with Viennese carriage manufacturer Ludwig Lohner to develop the Egger-Lohner electric vehicle.  It became known as the “P1,” after the code that Ferdinand engraved on all of the vehicle’s key components. It’s said that P1 stood for “Porsche Number 1,” because Ferdinand wanted to ensure that he would always get credit for his work on the car.

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The less than impressive looking P1 resembled a horse-drawn carriage far more than a state of the art electric vehicle.  But, its rear-mounted octagonal electric motor could put out 3hp at 350rpm and, by overcharging, up to 5hp with a top speed of 21 mph.  Controlled by six forward gears, two reverse gears, and four braking gears, the vehicle weighed nearly 3,000 lbs.  The motor was 287 lbs. alone, but the batteries added over 1,000 pounds!

Despite the ground-breaking nature of the car, the P1 ended up in a Viennese warehouse in 1902, where it remained until recently. Earlier this year, in January 2014, the P1 took its place of honor as the starting point of the permanent collection at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen.