The Toyota Prius is claimed to be the world’s first commercially mass-produced and marketed hybrid vehicle. It was first sold in Japan in 1997 and then world-wide in 2001.
However, hybrid vehicles were experimented with back in the 1920′s.
Electric powered vehicles were quite common in the twenties but were limited in their range by the capacity of the storage batteries – nothing much has changed in that respect over the last 85 years!
In 1929 General Electric produced a hybid gas electric car designed to capitalize on the best features of both systems. Colonel Green of Massachusetts was so impressed he ordered 3.
Reading about this 1929 hybrid car makes you realize that there is nothing new about many modern automotive advances. The tinkerers and inventors of the 1920′s have already been there first.