A hybrid car is a means of transportation using two sources of power. It uses a rechargeable energy storage system found on board as well as a fuelled power source as the vehicle’s driving force. The car pollutes less and uses less fuel. Victor Wouk (1919 2005) was an electrical engineer and entrepreneur and the inventor of the hybrid car. He was born in New York City and received a bachelors degree from Columbia University in 1939.
In 1962, Wouk was approached by a founder of Motorola cars, Russell Feldman, who identified the pollution from cars as one of the biggest problems of the environment. He wanted to find out the solutions to this problem. During the 1960s and 1970s, Wouk thought over this problem and got involved with vehicles. After a significant amount of work, he combined the low-emission benefits of an electric car with the power of a gasoline engine to produce a hybrid vehicle, effectively transforming a Buick Skylark vehicle with a 20 kilowatt direct-current electric motor and an RX-2 Mazda rotary engine.
The vehicle was tested at the Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions investigation laboratories where it acquired...