History Hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) are vehicles that combine internal combustion engine propulsion and electric propulsion. The first attempt at creating a hybrid vehicle was in 1665 by Ferdinand Verbiest. Verbiest had plans for a four wheeled vehicle that could run on steam or pulled by a horse. Verbiest tried for more than 15 years to fine tune his idea but there is no proof that this vehicle was produced (TopBits Tech Community, n.d.). Nicholas Cugnot came up with a working steam-powered carriage in 1769. Cugnot built his invention and it could travel at a max speed of six miles per hour. The downside to this vehicle concept was acquiring enough steam to travel any long distance was hard to accomplish. This defect was the demise of this idea and any possible improvements in transportation (TopBits Tech Community, n.d.). Robert Anderson of Scotland designed the first electric powered car in 1839. The vehicle had limited range and a battery that was difficult to recharge. In 1870, Sir David Solomon had developed a lighter electric motor for the carriage but had problems creating a dependable battery that could recharge easily. The very limited range and expensive recharging hindered his invention from going too far (TopBits Tech Community, n.d.). In the upcoming years, London business investors became interested in creating an electric taxicab. The plans would use a 28-cell battery system powering a small electric motor. Unfortunately, this idea did not become commonplace, but it did open doors for more attempts. In 1897, the London Electric Cab Company began to use cabs powered by a 40 cell battery and a three horsepower electric motor. These cabs were referred to as the "Bersey Cab" after its inventor, Walter Bersey; the cab could travel up to 50 miles before the battery had to be recharged (TopBits Tech Community, n.d.). In 1898, Ferdinand Porsche designed the first series hybrid called the Lohner-Porsche Mixte Hybrid. He built the prototype in 1900 at the age of 25. In his first design a combustion engine powered a generator that ran electric motors inside the hubs of the wheels. This design enabled the vehicle to travel 40 miles solely on battery power (hybridCARS, 2009). On November 23, 1905, Henri Pieper, a German-born inventor and gun maker in Belgium, submitted his application and received a United States patent on March 2, 1909 for “Mixed Drive for Autovehicles.” This was five years after Porsche’s first design and build of a hybrid vehicle (hybridCARS, 2006). A more recent working prototype of the HEV was built by Victor Wouk. Wouk's work with HEVs in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the title as the "Godfather of the Hybrid." Wouk installed a prototype hybrid drivetrain (with a 16 kilowatt (21 hp) electric motor) into a 1972 Buick Skylark supplied by GM for the 1970 Federal Clean Car Incentive Program, but the program was ended by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1976 (California Institute of Technology. 2006). The regenerative braking system is the basic design of most production HEVs. Regenerative braking converts braking force into energy and transferred to storage batteries instead of braking force dissipating as heat. Modern regenerative braking is used on trains, cars, motorcycles, and scooters. The Clinton administration initiated the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) program on 29 September 1993. The PNGV included Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR), the Department of Energy (DoE), and other various governmental agencies. Their task was to engineer the next efficient and clean vehicle (Sissine, 1996). The program was replaced by the hydrogen-focused Freedom CAR initiative by the George W. Bush administration in 2001, an initiative to fund research too risky for the private sector to engage in with the long-term goal of developing effectively carbon emission-free and petroleum-free vehicles (Subcommittee on Energy, 2002). The first mass-produced hybrid vehicle was the Toyota Prius, launched in Japan in 1997 (Toyota, 2008), and followed by the Honda Insight, launched in 1999 in the United States and Japan (Lake, 2001). The first generation Prius sedan had an estimated fuel economy of 52 miles per gallon in the city and 45 miles per gallon in highway driving (Toyota, 2008). The two-door first generation Insight had an estimated 61 miles per gallon in city driving and 68 miles per gallon on the highway (Lake, 2001). The General Motors EV1 was an electric car produced and leased in limited numbers by the General Motors Corporation from 1996 to 1999 (Quiroga, 2009). The EV1 was the first mass-produced and purpose-designed electric vehicle of the modern era from a major automaker, and the first GM car designed to be an electric vehicle from the outset. The EV1 program discontinued in 2002 and all cars on the road were repossessed by the end of 2003. Lessees were not given the option to purchase their cars from GM, who claimed parts, service, and liability regulations. Most of the repossessed EV1s were crushed, and the rest delivered to museums and educational institutes with their electric powertrains deactivated, with the agreement that the cars were not to be reactivated and driven on the road (Cogan, 2008).

References
California Institute of Technology. (2006) Godfather of the Hybrid. Retrieved from http://pr.caltech.edu/periodicals/EandS/articles/LXVII3/wouk.html
Cogan, R. (2008). 20 Truths about the GM EV1 Electric Car. GreenCar. Retrieved from http://www.greencar.com/articles/20-truths-gm-ev1-electric-car.php hybridCARS. (2006). History of Hybrid Vehicles. Retrieved from http://www.hybridcars.com/history/history-of-hybrid-vehicles.html hybridCARS. (2009). 100th Anniversary of First US Hybrid Car Patent. Retrieved from http://www.hybridcars.com/history/history-of-hybrid-vehicles.html
Lake, M. (2001). How it Works; A Tale of 2 Engines: How Hybrid Cars tame Emissions. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/08/technology/how-it-works-a-tale-of-2-engines-how-hybrid-cars-tame-emissions.html?scp=1&sq=hybrid%20Toyota%20Prius%201997%20Honda%20Insight%201999&st=cse
Quiroga, T. (2009, August). Driving the Future. Car and Driver, 52
Sissine, F. (1996). CRS Report for Congress. National Library for the Environment. Retrieved from http://www.ncseonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/energy/eng-9.cfm
Subcommittee on Energy. (2002). Committee on Science. Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20021017181937/http://www.house.gov/science/hearings/energy02/jun26/charter.htm
TopBits.com Tech Community. (n.d.). History of Hybrid Cars. Retrieved from http://www.tech-faq.com/history-of-hybrid-cars.html
Toyota. (2008). News Releases. Retrieved from http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/news/08/0515.html