First hybrid in public service? (UPDATE II: Porsche?)

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It’s not completely clear how this 1928 Faun started life. It may have been a refuse collector, with a loading platform at the back in which the dustbins were emptied. Anyhow, from the beginning it also had another public function: that of moving sand-box. When it snowed or in case of frost glazing frost, these trucks sprinkled sand as they drove around. The City of The Hague in The Netherlands had several of these Faun’s (see also the Faun history). According to the memories of a municipal technician, these hybrid trucks were in use untill the late 1950s. The four-cylinder combustion engine drove a generator which in turn delivered electricity to the electric motors that were fully integrated in the massive back wheels. According to the technician, its fuel consumption was 1 litre per kilometre! In the 1960s the city of The Hague sold the Faun’s ‘per kilo’ for scrap, but somehow this one ended up in the enormous collection of Ghislain Mahy from Belgium. (text and photos Fons Alkemade)

Update II by Michael Hortig: “The first hybrid-cars were constructed by Ferdinand Porsche at the turn of the century for the Löhner company. They built fire-trucks for the city of Vienna.
Update I by Bas de Voogd: “Hybrid vehicles were in public service long before the Faun's from The Hague! The reason behind the complicated hybrid set up was that such heavy vehicles were hard to handle with their unsynchronised gearboxes. By having a hybrid set up were the petrol engine was used to power the dynamo you could do without a complicated hard to handle gearbox. All the power to the wheels went smoothly and stepless through the dynamo! I believe the Amberley Working Museum has a hybrid motor coach in service from around 1914.”

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