The First Porsche Ever Ran On Electricity, And Was Just Found In An Old Shed

Courtesy of Porsche

After more than 100 years of sitting in a shed in Austria, the world's very first Porsche has been uncovered in remarkably good condition (via The Atlantic Cities).

The "Egger-Lohner electric vehicle, C.2 Phaeton model," or P1 for short, was designed and built by Ferdinand Porsche himself, first hitting the streets of Vienna on June 26, 1898.

A little over a year later, in September 1899, Porsche demonstrated the power of his new model with a first-place finish at the International Motor Vehicle Exhibition in Berlin. His new car finished 18 minutes ahead of the second-best competitor, with half of the vehicles failing to complete the race due to technical difficulties.

According to USA Today, the P1 was stored in an old shed in 1902, where it's sat until just recently.

Though it may look a lot like a horse-drawn carriage, the P1 was an electric car. Its "octagon" motor could travel up to 50 miles at a time, hitting a maximum speed of about 22 miles per hour. According to a press release from Porsche, the engine could deliver 3 horsepower during usual performance with bursts of up to 5 horsepower as it reached its maximum speed.

The entire vehicle weighed some 3,000 pounds and relied on more than 1,000 pounds of battery.

Courtesy of Porsche