![View of the production hall of Tribelhorn AG in Altstetten showing electric postal tricycles lined up in rows, ca. 1920.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/blick-in-die-fabrikhalle-der-firma-tribelhorn-ag-in-altstetten-mit-aufgereihten-elektrischen-post-dreiradern-um-1920-300x225.jpg)
A brief history of e‑mobility
For decades electrically powered vehicles were considered exotic, but today everyone’s talking about them. What is less well known is that 120 years ago, electric vehicles were all the rage. In those days, around half of all engine-driven vehicles in New York were electric vehicles. Switzerland’s contributions to e-mobility have been recognised worldwide.
![Camille Jenatzy with “La Jamais Contente” at the victory parade in Achères (France) on 1 May 1899.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/jamais-contente-wikimedia-300x222.jpg)
![Electric tram in Montreux around 1890.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/elektrisches-tram-in-montreux-um-1890-300x225.jpg)
Electric vehicle pioneer Johann Albert Tribelhorn
![Premises of the “Fabrik elektrischer Fahrzeuge A. Tribelhorn”, the A. Tribelhorn electric vehicle factory, in Feldbach, Canton of Zurich, ca. 1910.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/tribelhorn-fabrik-verkehrshaus-300x225.jpg)
![Tribelhorn electric fire truck for the Bern fire department, ca. 1908.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/elektrischer-feuerwehrwagen-von-tribelhorn-300x225.jpg)
![Tribelhorn AG electric passenger vessel Brunnen-Treib on Lake Lucerne, ca. 1910. The hull was built by the J. Faul yacht shipyard at Lake Zurich.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/elektrisches-passagierschiff-brunnen-treib-der-tribelhorn-ag-300x225.jpg)
![Tribelhorn electric truck belonging to the company Brunnenverwaltung Eptingen, with a charging station on the right, ca. 1920.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/elektrischer-tribelhorn-lastwagen-der-brunnenverwaltung-eptingen-um-1920-300x225.jpg)
The petrol engine drives out the electric
![Tribelhorn electric truck loaded with wooden crates, ca. 1912.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/mit-holzkisten-beladener-tribelhorn-elektro-truck-um-1912-300x225.jpg)
![EFAG electric Swissair three-wheel aircraft tractor behind a DC-2 in Dübendorf, alongside a Peugeot delivery van, 1937.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/elektrischer-swissair-dreiradschlepper-der-efag-300x225.jpg)
![Different designs depending on denomination: two electric EFAG hearses from the city of Lugano in 1935, the one on the left for the Catholic departed and the one on the right for everyone else.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/efag-leichenwagen-der-stadt-lugano-300x225.jpg)
![Bringing the milk directly to the people: Oehler’s electric milk truck in Oberentfelden, Canton of Aargau, 1945.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/elektromilchwagen-der-firma-oehler-in-oberentfelden-ag-300x225.jpg)
Tour de Sol
![“Gnom” solar car at the Tour de Sol 1986, starting in Biel.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/solarmobil-gnom-an-der-tour-de-sol-1986-mit-start-in-biel-300x225.jpg)
![BKTech AG founder Philipp Kohlbrenn (centre) and the two designers of the “Flyer”, Christian Häuselmann (left) and Reto Böhlen (right). In front of them is a “FLYER Classic”, the first series product to be produced in small batches, from 1995 to 1999.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/flyer-classic-300x225.jpg)
From central Switzerland to the moon
![The solar-powered aircraft Solar Impulse over San Francisco, 2016.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/solar-impulse-300x163.jpg)