The Porsche story part 1: a Lohner, a young Porsche and an electric car

The fifth World Exhibition in Paris, in 1900, eclipsed everything that had gone before. An area covering more than 200 hectares in between the Ferris wheel and the Grand Palais presented the “achievements of a century”, with more than 75,000 exhibitors displaying everything that was modern, wonderful and exciting to the circa 50 million visitors who visited between April and November.

One of those 50 million was a young Ferdinand Porsche, who travelled to Paris with his boss, the Austrian vehicle builder Ludwig Lohner.

Lohner had headhunted Porsche one year earlier. The young engineer had been working at Vereinigte Elektrizitäts-AG in Vienna for four years, where aged 22 he was appointed the head of the test department, and attracted attention for his achievements, including the design of an electric drivetrain for the Viennese coachbuilder Ludwig Lohner.

Lohner was so inspired by the visionary designer that he employed Ferdinand Porsche without further ado in 1899 – and put him completely in charge of building an improved successor to the electric coach. Within ten weeks, Porsche had assembled the first “Lohner-Porsche”. Two electric motors were arranged directly in the hub of the front wheels so that the drive wheels also carried out the steering. It had unparalleled efficiency, thanks to being able to leave out a transmission, belts and chains.

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The “Electric Phaeton” was the greatest automotive innovation at the World Exhibition – and a tremendous success. The Lohner Porsche was hailed by the press as the “most distinctive novelty” and an “epoch-making innovation”.

The World Exhibition was Porsche’s first major appearance. “He is still very young,” Ludwig Lohner explained when asked about the hitherto unknown designer. “But he is a man with a great career ahead of him. You are going to hear a lot more from him, his name is Ferdinand Porsche.”

Read part two of the Porsche story next Sunday.