Environmental concerns have brought us unleaded petrol, hybrid engines, catalytic converters and electric cars that can travel at 200 mph. ;xNLx;;xNLx;And 20 years ago Greenpeace created the SMILE a fuel efficient car whose technology carmakers stil haven’t equalled in their mass production cars.;xNLx;;xNLx;With climate change set to become the greatest challenge that humanity will face this century, now it's the turn of Europe's politicians to make car companies build cleaner cars, by voting for strong car efficiency regulations.
To help the French army haul cannons, French military engineer Nicolas Cugnot invents the first steam powered road vehicle, using a steam engine and a 3 wheeled cart. Popular belief states it moved at walking speed.
Diesel technology is probably the most important milestone for fuel-efficient engines. In competition with the gasoline engine, diesel technology has had to improve over the years.
Carl Benz is the first to patent the idea of a petrol-fuelled automobile. One of his great-grandchildren told the German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche, that his wife's pressure made him successful. At the time of this invention and patent, she was already the mother of their three children and was invested in his company.
Bertha Benz, in an effort to popularise her husband's invention, took the very first public drive in an automobile, in one of the Newly Constructed Patent Motorwagen automobiles-from Mannheim to Pforzheim, with her sons Richard and Eugen. She did this without telling her husband and without permission of the Authorities. But she helped make the car popular. Many people at this time were afraid of using cars. Her pressure helped sway public opinion of the time.
Shaking up the market, Ferdinand Porsche invents the Lohne-Porsche Mixte Hybrid - the first hybrid engine - at the age of 18.
Seeking to bring the motor car to the masses, Henry Ford produced the Model T. It had a 20-horsepower, four-cylinder engine, reached a top speed of about 45 miles per hour, covered 13-21 mpg and weighed 544 kg.
The Beetle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche with the intention of being a simple and economic car that would appeal to a wide audience. It has fulfilled that role and gone on to be one of the world's most popular and memorable automobiles.
The first production cars with direct fuel injection was released on the market: the Gutbrod Superior and Goliath GP 700 E sports coupe.
Eugene Houdry invents the oxidation catalyst as a solution to the smog in Los Angeles at the time. Houdry was worried about the impact of car emissions on air pollution and founded a special company, the Oxy-Catalyst Company, which was to develop catalytic converters for gasoline engines. This idea was far ahead of its time.
As man seeks to go faster and faster on land, the rocket car "Blue Flame" tops 1000 km/h in Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, USA.
