Porsche Roots are in Electric Car Making
About 100 years ago, when both Porsche and the “horse-less carriage” were new, Ferdinand Porsche was in the business of making an electric car. Long before the time of green cars being “in” – and when electricity was still a treasured commodity – this Porsche was (possibly) the first produced “hybrid” vehicle.
First shown at the Paris World Fair of 1900 and developed by Ferdinand Porsche, founder of the company by the same name, for Austrian royal carriage manufacturer, Jacob Lohner & Co, this was the world’s first advanced electric car and led directly to the production of the first gas-electric hybrid car more than a century ago.
Now it seems Porsche may head back to their electric “roots.” Speaking publicly for the first time at the Frankfurt Auto Show, Porsche’s new president and CEO, Michael Macht, revealed that Porsche is considering and working hard on an electric-powered sports car that would meet the demands of the Porsche faithful.
“I am also convinced that one day Porsche will have an electric sports car in its line-up,” said Macht at a company press conference. While he cautioned that so far the available battery technology is not “sufficient to meet Porsche’s strict requirements,” he said “our engineers are already working hard on this challenge. An electric sports car would therefore only make sense for Porsche if it offers performance and a cruising range similar to that of current sports cars in the market.”
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