Egger-Lohner electric vehicle recovered after more than 116 years.
We’ve all lost our keys and mobile phone at one point in our lives, but probably not a car. Unless, of course, you happen to be Porsche, which seemingly forgot about the first vehicle it ever built. The Porsche P1 (short for Porsche number 1) had been sat in an Austrian warehouse since 1902.
Porsche said the P1 was at a Berlin international motor vehicle exhibition where it had been taking part in a 25 mile race designed to showcase electric vehicles on September 28th 1899.
The P1 completed the race 18 minutes ahead of the competition in a challenge where more than half of the competition dropped out due to technical issues. It also recorded the lowest energy consumption in an efficiency test. The vehicle was later put into storage where it was left to gather dust.
It’s not clear why the P1 was abandoned, but we do know the ‘Egger-Lohner electric vehicle, C.2 Phaeton model’, to quote its full name, will finally get the attention it deserves. On February 1st and 2nd the P1 will be on public display to mark the fifth anniversary of the Porsche Museum.
The Porsche P1 is special for a few reasons, chief of which is the fact it was designed and built by Porsche founder Ferdinand Porsche himself. It was also one of the first vehicles registered in Austria back on June 26th, 1898.
The P1 was powered by a 130kg small electric drive, which was created by car builder Jacob Lohner. Output was 3bhp and could be upped to 5bhp with the ‘overloading mode’ engaged. A top speed of 22mph (35km/h) was possible and the range was 50 miles ─ only 12 miles less than a Renault Twizy.
As history dictates, electric cars went up against the combustion engine and lost miserably. In a strange twist of fate, however, the latest and greatest Porsche brings back electric in the form of the hybrid 918 supercar.
Porsche P1 and Ferdinand Porsche images
Leave a Reply