Porsche made an in-wheel electric motor in 1900

In-wheel motors at the moment are a much-discussed topic for performance electric vehicles, but Ferdinand Porsche, the founding father of the Porsche engineering company and father to Ferry Porsche, the founding father of the Porsche sports automobile brand, worked on them over 100 years ago.

On the turn of the twentieth century, electric cars gave internal combustion a run for its money, and Ferdinand Porsche was experimenting with each technologies. On Apr. 14, 1900, an EV that the 24-year-old Porsche helped develop was unveiled on the Paris World’s Fair—and notably featuring in-wheel hub motors.

Having previously designed an electrical automobile in 1898, Porsche designed motors to be integrated with the front wheel hubs of a vehicle built by the Austrian firm of Jacob Lohner & Co. in a period of only 10 weeks. The electrical motors each generated 2.4 hp, which got the vehicle, known as a Lohner-Porsche, as much as a top speed of 19.8 mph. The Lohner Porsche also featured four-wheel braking—a rarity on the time.

Working with Ludwig Lohner, Porsche continued development of hub motors, creating three sizes with outputs as much as 11.8 hp. Intended to be used in trucks and buses in addition to passenger cars, these motors were powered by lead-acid batteries that provided a claimed 31 miles of range.

Porsche also designed an all-wheel-drive electric race automobile named La Toujours Contente (French for “the one who’s all the time glad”), with one 13.8-hp motor powering each wheel. However the engineer’s in-wheel motors saw essentially the most use in a hybrid.

The Lohner-Porsche Semper Vivus (Latin for “all the time alive”) combined hub motors with a gasoline engine to increase range and address lack of charging infrastructure (two problems EV drivers of today are still accustomed to). Porsche claims that about 300 vehicles using this powertrain were built, including 40 for the Viennese fire department, in addition to some taxis.

Lohner-Porsche Semper Vivus hybrid

In-wheel motors at the moment are finding their way into modern vehicles—steadily. In 2023, Chinese automaker Dongfeng claimed to have the primary production-ready passenger automobile with in-wheel motors, and prior to that they’d been slated to be used within the Lightyear 0 and Lordstown Endurance pickup that did not quite make it to full-scale production, in addition to the NEVS Emily GT prototype.

Ferrari has also patented an in-wheel motor design, while Lexus in 2019 said it might pursue in-wheel motors for future EVs. A more moderen patent filing from parent Toyota appears to back that up.