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The First Self Propelled Road Vehicle
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built a steam powered military tractor for the French army. It was used by the French army to carry artillery at a speed of 2.5 mph. It had three wheels, and had to stop every 5-10 minutes to generate steam power. http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aacarssteama.htm -
The First "True" Automobile
The first gasoline powered automobile was made by Karl Benz of Germany. It was a two-seater vehicle with a steel frame and three wire-spoked wheels.The engine output was 0.55kW and it had an exhaust valve.
https://www.daimler.com/dccom/0-5-1322446-1-1323352-1-0-0-1322455-0-0-135-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.html
https://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/auto.html -
The first car with an electric starter
The 1912 Cadillac Touring Edition was the first car to have an electric starter that starts the gasoline engine. The electric starter was invented by Charles F. Kettering with the help of Henry M. Leland. Prior to the invention of the electric starter one needed to crank a crank a lot to get the car started. This made the process of putting the car into motion less tedious,
http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2012/Feb/0215_cad_starter.html -
First Car with air conditioning unit
A company known as Packard provided the first air conditioning unit in an automobile at the cost of $279 extra called the Weather Conditioner. It automatically switched to heating in the winter. This made the car more comfotable for consumers.
http://www.automobilemag.com/features/news/1007_automotive_air_conditoning_history/ -
The First Car Model to offer a 3 point seat belt
The first 3 point seatbelt was patented by Nils Bohlin a Volvo engineer. The Volvo 122 model was the first model with a 3 point seatbelt. Prior to this model physicians in 1930 put lap belts otherwise known as 2 point seat belts in their own cars and urged automobile manufactures to do the same.
http://www.gizmag.com/50th-anniversary-3-point-seat-belt/11085/
http://blog.esurance.com/seat-belt-history/#.VhSM4_lVikp -
The First Mass Produced Hybrid Car
Toyota unveils the Prius, it is the first hybrid car to be mass produced. A hybrid car is a car generally with an engine, a fuel tank, and an electric motor. They reuse energy generally wasted by a standard car using their electric bits.
http://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy/what-is-a-hybrid-car-how-do-hybrids-work.html -
The first chargeable car
The Chevy Volt was the first commercially available plug in hybrid car it was released by GM. It contains rechargeable battery packs which can be charged in wall outlets. This decreases overall cost of car by eleminating cost of gasoline and makes the car less harmful to the environment by reducing amount of oil consumed. http://energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car
