Electric vehicles are being hailed as the future of the auto industry, but Ferdinand Porsche designed an electric car long before he established the Porsche brand in 1948.
Officially titled the 1898 Egger-Lohner electric vehicle, C.2 Phaeton model, the model is an electric-power car that Porsche developed at the age of 22, USA TODAY reported.
The young designer engraved the car with "P1" for "Porsche, No. 1" and raced the car in an electric vehicle race in September 1899, winning with a finish 18 minutes ahead of the car that took second place.
According to AutomobileMag.com, the car features a 287-pound motor and could reach top speeds of 21 mph. With a 2100-pound battery pack, the P1's driving range was an impressive 49 miles.
When Porsche created the car, he was working for car builder Jacob Lohner and assigned the project of building an electric vehicle. The 22-year-old had no formal training in engineering, just a knack for it that was demonstrated in the P1.
The very first Porsche car, which was unveiled in Germany on Monday, had been sitting untouched in an Austrian warehouse since 1902, according to USA TODAY.
Completely original and unrestored, the P1 will sit in state at the Porsche Museum as part of an exhibition on Porsche's history.
"[The exhibition] will bridge the gap between the past and present-day developments such as the Porche 918 Spyder," Porsche said in a statement quoted by Automobile magazine.
The electric vehicle is called a Phaeton in reference to its design as an open car with front and back seats.
The Porsche brand has since introduced a variety of electric cars, including the $100,000 Panamera gas-electric hybrid sedan. The namesake company also has the 918 Spyder gas-electric hybrid race car, which features a combined gas-electric power rating of 887 horsepower, making it 10 times as fast as the original P1.
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