It’s hard to say who made the first hybrid. Having two different power sources is actually an old idea.

The first important hybrid that we know of today was made around 1900 by the famous Austrian car designer Ferdinand Porsche. The car had a gasoline engine, and there were electric motors in the wheel hubs. It was a series hybrid. The engine ran a generator that made electricity.

Other people also made hybrids in the early 20th century. But the internal-combustion car became very popular. It was powerful, and fuel was cheap and easy to get. Also, hybrid cars cost more to make. For decades few people bothered to even experiment with them.

Hybrid Boom

Toward the end of the 20th century the situation changed. Gasoline started to get more costly. At the same time, people began to realize that the world’s oil might someday be all used up. Meanwhile, more and more people worried about the pollution caused by burning fuels made from oil. Finally, two big Japanese car companies introduced hybrid cars.

Toyota started selling the Prius in Japan in 1997. Honda introduced the Insight in 1999. The Insight had very good gas mileage. It was just a small two-seater, however, and did not sell well. The Prius was a midsize car. It proved popular. Toyota, Honda, and other companies soon began to introduce new hybrid models
of midsize or larger cars.