1. Evolution of automobile engines

1880-1930

In 1867, Nikolaus Otto produced the first real four-stroke engine, and at the same time three men gave the necessary maps for electric traction: Gaston Planté in 1859 offered the first lead accumulator, Zénobe Gramme in 1869 the first electric generator called the dynamo, and Hyppolyte Fontaine in 1873 the electric motor derived from the dynamo.

In 1895, thermal and electric traction went head-to-head in the Paris-Bordeaux-Paris raid, a challenge to all car manufacturers to prove the reliability of their vehicles over a distance of 1,178 km. The drivers of the thirty-nine machines included Emile Levassor, the Michelin brothers and Jules Albert Denion for thermal traction, and Charles Jeantaud for electric traction, with a prototype weighing 1,200 kg and batteries...