The uncomfortable truth about hybrid vehicles
TL;DR
Hybrid vehicles, pioneered by Ferdinand Porsche's 1900 Semper Vivus, use combustion engines to generate electricity for motors, but their modern adoption has been slow despite early innovation.
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How it started
Apologies to the Toyota Prius, but the first hybrid vehicle of note was the Semper Vivus, developed by Ferdinand Porsche (yes, that Porsche) way back in 1900. The Semper Vivus (Latin for "always alive") used two combustion engines to power generators, which then fed electricity to motors inside the wheel hubs. The fact that it took modern engineers over a century to really appreciate th …