With major carmakers these days unveiling hybrid vehicles that combine the power of internal combustion with the efficiency of electric motors, it's natural to assume the technology is a recent twist on the electric car. The truth is that both electrics and hybrids trace their roots to the dawn of the auto industry. Skeptics who suspect that "environmentally friendly" cars must yield underwhelming performance may be surprised to learn that these vehicles were pioneered by a man whose name would become synonymous with sporty racers: Ferdinand Porsche. The renowned engineer's first car was an "electromobile," and it set the stage for hybrids today.

At the turn of the 20th century, before gasoline cars dominated transportation, they were detested for their noise and stinking fumes. Electrics were a quiet, odorless alternative, with a power source associated with modern wonders, thanks to inventors such as Thomas Edison. One young electricity buff was the mechanically precocious Porsche. Growing up in rural Austria, Porsche baffled his parents with his homegrown experiments with lamps and telephones.