Porsche’s First All Electric Vehicle

Discovered in an old Austrian shed…where it sat for over 100 years, the first Porsche ever made turns out to be an AEV.  Created by Ferdinand Porsche himself in 1898… it was nicknamed the “P1” but properly called the “Egger-Lohner electric vehicle, C.2 Phaeton model”.  Ferdinand Porsche actually raced the P1 at a Berlin electric vehicle expo…taking home first place…and finishing the almost 25-mile course 18 minutes faster than the 2nd place competitor.  Shortly thereafter, it seems the P1 was abandoned for some reason…and hidden away in that Austrian shed in 1902, until just recently when it was recovered.

But the P1 was moved earlier this year to Stuttgart, Germany, where it debuts at the Porsche Museum.  All that remains of the vehicle is its wood and metal frame and front, which holds its steering wheel and a century-old dashboard that measures voltage and amperage. A true all electric vehicle…the vehicle’s motor weighed 287 pounds, but it relied on a 1,000 pound battery for power….delivering 3 horsepower during usual performance with bursts of up to 5 horsepower at maximum speed.  With a travel range of nearly 50 miles, the 3000 pound vehicle had a max speed of about 22 miles per hour.

Read More – USA Today