The question is who invented the first car, causes heated debate among historians and car enthusiasts. Some are sure that this is Karl Benz with his three-wheeled Motorwagen 1886, others insist on the priority of Gottlieb Daimler or even Nicolas Cugno with his 1769 steam carriage. The reason for the confusion lies in the very definition of the term. "car": What exactly should be considered first - a steam cart, an electric car or a car with a gasoline internal combustion engine?
Today we will figure out what inventions claim to be "first car", why Karl Benz's patent became the official starting point, and how the concept of self-propelled carriages evolved from the 17th century to the present day. You'll learn about little-known automotive pioneers, technological revolutions, and why the answer to this question is not as clear-cut as it seems.
Spoiler: if you expect to hear one name, get ready for surprises. The history of the automobile is filled with intrigue, litigation, and forgotten geniuses whose ideas were decades ahead of their time.
Steam predecessors: when the car was not yet a car
For a long time first car was considered a steam car created by a French engineer Nicholas Joseph Cugno in 1769. His fardier à vapeur ("steam cart") was intended for transporting artillery pieces, but due to its low speed (only 4 km/h) and bulkiness it never became widespread. Interestingly, Cugno not only designed the machine, but also encountered for the first time management problem: his vehicle did not have a steering wheel, and turns were made by stopping one of the wheels.
However, Cugno was not the first to experiment with steam. Back in 1672 Ferdinand Verbiest, a Flemish missionary to China, created a model of a steam carriage for the Chinese emperor. It was more of a toy invention, but it proved the fundamental possibility of self-propelled transport. And in 1784 an Englishman William Murdoch built a working steam carriage, which, according to legend, traveled 16 km at a speed of 13 km/h.
- 🔥 1672 — model by Ferdinand Verbiest (China)
- 🚂 1769 — fardier à vapeur Nicolas Cugno (France)
- 💨 1784 - steam crew of William Murdoch (England)
Why are these inventions not considered? "real" cars? It's all about practicality: steam engines were heavy, dangerous (boilers often exploded) and required constant replenishment with water and coal. Moreover, they did not correspond to the modern definition of a car as vehicle with its own engine, capable of transporting passengers over long distances.
Electric cars of the 19th century: a forgotten revolution
Few people know, but electric cars appeared before gasoline ones. In 1828, the Hungarian inventor Anjos Jedlik created a miniature electric motor and a model of a car based on it. And already in the 1830–1840s the Scotsman Robert Anderson and American Thomas Davenport independently built the first full-size electric cars. These cars could reach speeds of up to 30 km/h - an impressive figure for that time!
In 1881, a Frenchman Gustave Trouvé introduced the first practical electric car with rechargeable batteries. His invention even took part in the Paris–Tourville race in 1881, beating steam and gasoline prototypes. By 1900, electric cars accounted for about 30% of all cars in the US, and their popularity was comparable to horse carriages.
- ⚡ 1828 - Anjos Jedlik electric motor
- 🔋 1881 - Gustave Trouvé's electric car with batteries
- 🏆 1899 - electric car La Jamais Contente first to cross the 100 km/h mark
So why haven't electric cars gone mainstream? There are several reasons:
- Low battery capacity (power reserve did not exceed 50–80 km).
- Lack of charging infrastructure.
- Competition with gasoline engines, which were cheaper and more powerful.
⚠️ Attention: If large oil fields had not been discovered at the beginning of the 20th century, the history of the automobile industry could have taken a different path - and today we would drive electric cars, not cars with internal combustion engines.
Gasoline revolution: Karl Benz vs Gottlieb Daimler
Officially the first car with a gasoline engine admits Benz Patent-Motorwagen, created Karl Benz in 1885–1886. His three-wheeled vehicle has a single-cylinder engine producing 0.75 hp. received patent No. 37435 from the German Imperial Patent Office January 29, 1886. This document is considered "birth certificate" of the car.
However, Benz had a serious competitor - Gottlieb Daimler, who in the same 1886, together with Wilhelm Maybach, developed a four-wheeled carriage with a gasoline engine. Their model was more powerful (1.5 hp) and more compact, but Daimler did not patent it as a car, but focused on selling engines. This decision subsequently played a cruel joke on him: in patent disputes, Benz retained the advantage.
| Characteristics | Benz Patent-Motorwagen (1886) | Daimler-Maybach (1886) |
|---|---|---|
| Engine type | Single cylinder, 954 cm³ | Single cylinder, 462 cm³ |
| Power | 0.75 hp (0.55 kW) | 1.5 hp (1.1 kW) |
| Max. speed | 16 km/h | 18 km/h |
| Wheel formula | 3 wheels (2 front, 1 rear) | 4 wheels |
| Patent | Yes (No. 37435, 1886) | No (only the motor is patented) |
Interesting fact: Karl Benz's wife, Bertha Benz, played a key role in popularizing the invention. In 1888, without her husband's knowledge, she committed the first ever intercity car trip (from Mannheim to Pforzheim, 104 km), proving the reliability of the car. Along the way, Bertha even came up with the first "spare parts" — for example, I used a hairpin to clear a clogged gas line!
Benz's 1886 patent became the legal basis for his car to be recognized as the first automobile, despite the existence of earlier prototypes.
Patent wars and forgotten inventors
The history of the car is full of disputes about priority. For example, a German engineer Siegfried Marcus in 1875 he created a self-propelled cart with a gasoline engine, but his invention was not patented as a car. And in the USA Charles Durya in 1893 he built the first American gasoline car, but his name today is known only to specialists.
One of the loudest scandals erupted between Karl Benz and Henry Ford. Ford founded his company in 1903, but a few years later he was accused of patent infringement Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM)**, which controlled the Benz patent. According to the documents, Ford did indeed use technologies protected by Benz's patents, but managed to circumvent the restrictions by proving that its design was fundamentally different.
⚠️ Attention: If not for Benz's patent, the automobile industry might have developed chaotically, without standards. It was the court proceedings of the early 20th century that laid the foundations for modern patent law in the auto industry.
Another forgotten genius Etienne Lenoir, who in 1860 created the first practical internal combustion engine (on light gas). Its engine was imperfect, but became a prototype for subsequent developments by Benz and Daimler. Lenoir even founded a company to produce engines, but went bankrupt due to competition from more efficient models.
Why did Benz win the patent war?
Karl Benz not only patented his car as a complete invention, but also managed to prove its uniqueness. Unlike Daimler, which sold engines separately, Benz offered a finished product - a car. This has become a key argument in legal disputes.
How the “first car” was determined: criteria and compromises
So why Benz Patent-Motorwagen considered the first automobile, despite earlier inventions? It's all about criteria, which historians and engineers formulated later:
- Self-propelled — the machine must move without the help of horses or external sources of energy.
- Internal combustion engine — steam and electric engines were excluded as “not modern.”
- Serial production — prototypes produced in a single copy were not taken into account.
- Patent protection - the invention must be documented.
It was in these parameters that Benz's car was ahead of its competitors. However, today many experts consider this approach unfair, because he ignores the contributions of other inventors. For example, in 2011 Science Museum London recognized the Cugno steam engine of 1769 "first car", citing the fact that she was first self-propelled vehiclecapable of carrying passengers.
Offers a compromise option Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA): They believe that the history of a car begins with Benz Patent-Motorwagen, while still recognizing the importance of earlier inventions. So the answer to the question is "who made the first car" depends on what criteria you choose!
☑️ Criteria for the “first car” according to historians
Evolution after 1886: how the car became widespread
After the invention of Benz and Daimler, the automotive industry developed rapidly:
- 🚗 1889 — Daimler and Maybach create the first four wheeler with a four-speed gearbox.
- 🏭 1893 - The Durya brothers founded the first American auto company.
- 💰 1908 — Henry Ford launches Ford Model T, the first car produced on the assembly line (price - only $850).
- ⚡ 1913 — Ford is introducing an assembly line, reducing assembly time from 12 hours to 1.5.
By the 1920s, the car had gone from being a luxury item to vehicle for the middle class. And in the 1930s the first aerodynamic bodies, anti-lock braking systems and even prototype automatic transmissions. It is interesting that many technologies that seem like innovations today (for example, hybrid engines) were invented at the beginning of the 20th century, but forgotten due to the cheapness of gasoline.
Today Benz Patent-Motorwagen costs in German Museum in Munich, and its replicas can be seen in car museums around the world. The price of original copies at auctions exceeds $10 million - and this despite the fact that in 1886 the car cost about 600 gold marks (approximately $1,500 at the exchange rate of that time).
If you ever find yourself in Mannheim, Germany, visit Karl Benz Museum — the only surviving original is kept there Patent-Motorwagen 1886 release.
Myths and misconceptions about the first car
There are many myths surrounding the history of the car. Let's look at the most common ones:
- Myth: "Henry Ford invented the automobile."
Reality: Ford revolutionized production cars (conveyor), but it Model T appeared only in 1908 - 22 years later than the Benz car.
- Myth: "The first car ran on diesel."
Reality: The diesel engine was invented Rudolf Diesel only in 1893. The first diesel cars appeared in the 1930s.
- Myth: "Electric cars are an innovation of the 21st century."
Reality: As we learned earlier, electric cars were popular in the 1890s and 1910s until they were replaced by gasoline-powered cars.
Another misconception is that the first car was fast. Actually Patent-Motorwagen accelerated to 16 km/h, and to climb the mountain required the help of a horse! For comparison: a modern pedestrian walks at a speed of 5–6 km/h, and a cyclist would easily overtake a Benz.
By the way, did you know that the first Road accident happened already in 1891? Austrian inventor Siegfried Marcus I hit a cyclist with my car in Vienna. And the first fine for speeding was issued in 1896 in England - to a driver driving at a speed of... 13 km/h!
Many “modern” problems (traffic jams, accidents, ecology) appeared already in the first decades of the automobile era. For example, in 1900, 8 thousand cars were registered in New York - and 200 horses died, frightened by their noise.
FAQ: Answers to frequently asked questions
Why was the first car a three-wheeler and not a four-wheeler?
Karl Benz chose a three-wheel design to simplify steering. At that time, there were no effective mechanisms for turning the front wheels (as in modern cars), and the three-wheel design made it possible to do without complex gears. In addition, this solution reduced the weight and cost of the machine.
How much did Benz's first car cost in modern money?
In 1886 Patent-Motorwagen cost 600 gold marks. Taking into account inflation and exchange rate changes, this is approximately $40–50 thousand in modern money. For comparison: the average salary of a worker in Germany at that time was about 500 marks per year - that is, the car cost more than the annual income!
Is it true that the first car had no brakes?
This is not entirely true. U Patent-Motorwagen there was a brake, but it only acted on the rear wheel and was controlled by a lever. However, its efficiency was extremely low - the car braked worse than a modern bicycle. To come to a complete stop, it was often necessary to use... the driver's feet!
Who was the first passenger in the car?
The first passengers were children of Karl Benz — Evgeniy and Richard. In 1885, while testing a prototype, Benz put his sons in the car to demonstrate its safety. Here's the first one intercity trip (1888) was committed by Benz's wife, Bertha, along with her sons.
Are there working replicas of the first car?
Yes, several exact replicas Benz Patent-Motorwagen were built by the company Mercedes-Benz to the anniversary of the invention. One of them even drove along the original route of Bertha Benz (Mannheim-Pforzheim) in 2011 - and successfully completed the distance! Working copies can also be seen in museums in Stuttgart, Munich and Detroit.