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5000 BCE
Wheels
Wheels were invented 5000 years ago in Mesopotamia. They were made from solid wood. Animals pulled carts on wheels. A thousand years later, spokes were added which made the wheels much lighter. -
5000 BCE
Solid wheel cart
Wheels were invented 5000 years ago in Mesopotamia. They were made from solid wood. Animals pulled carts on wheels. A thousand years later, spokes were added which made the wheels much lighter. -
Cugnots steam tractor
The first vehicle to move by itself was the steam tractor, invented in 1769 by the frencjman Nicolas Cugnot. The steam tractor worked by pumping pistons up and down to move the wheels. But the tractor was very heavy and unstable. -
Stephenson rocket
The first steam train was built in England in 1804 by Richard Trevithick and travelled at 8 kph (Kilometers per hour). In 1829, George Stephenson and his son Robert won a competition to invent the fastest steam train. The Stephesons Rocket could travel at 48 kph. -
The Benz Petrol Car
Transport on the road and rail was further advanced by invention of the internal combustion engine in 1859. The combustion engine worked by burning fuel inside cylinders and was much smaller and lighter than a steam engine. And in 1885 the german engineer Karl Benz built the first petrol-powered car. -
Diesel Train
By the 1900s diesel engine trains (named after Rudolf Diesel, another German engineer) were also replacing steam trains. -
Model T Ford
These early hand-built cars were too expensive for ordinary people. But in 1908 Henry Ford started mass- producing cars in his factories. In the first 20 years of production, 15 million Model T Ford cars were sold. -
High speed electric train
Nowadays, cars and trains are often powered by diesel or petrol, but these fuels will run out. High speed trains, such as the Japanese bullet train or the French TGV, which can travel over 300 kph now use electricity. -
Solar powered car
Scientist are also experimenting with magnetic levitation trains and fuel cell cars (hydrogen) and solar powered cars.