Gustave Trouve

Gustave Pierre Trouve was a French electrical engineer and inventor, born January 2, 1839, known across a long career for an unusual skill at miniaturizing electrical devices, and credited with around seventy-five inventions in all. In 1880 he fitted a small Siemens electric motor to a rechargeable battery and mounted the combination on a tricycle, producing what is generally regarded as the first electric vehicle, which he successfully tested on the streets of Paris on April 19, 1881. He then adapted the same battery-powered motor into a portable, removable outboard unit for boats, and on May 26, 1881 demonstrated it on a five-meter boat named Le Telephone, which reached about one meter per second moving upstream and two and a half meters per second downstream on the Seine. He exhibited both the electric boat and a set of electro-medical instruments at the International Electrical Exhibition in Paris later that year and was awarded the Legion of Honor for the work.