Inventor of the first Hybrid Car
Wouks’ Time at Caltech
Brother of author Herman Wouk
Dr. Wouk with his modified 1972 Buick Skylark
Victor
(left) and Herman Wouk enjoy a celebration in their honor last April in the
Athenaeum.
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Inventor of the First Hybrid Car
Victor Wouk funded and developed the first full-sized
hybrid car in the 1970’s. He was an
electrical engineer and entrepreneur.
The car was a modified 1972 Buick Skylark with a Wankel rotary engine
from Mazda and an electric motor that supplied peak power when it was
needed. The car had a top speed of 85
mph and got 30 mpg.
The work began in the late 1960’s when Wouk was an
engineer at Gulton Industries. Wouk left Gulton and formed Petro-Electric
Motors to develop the car to meet the new Federal Clean Car Incentive Program.
Described as the father of modern hybrid automobile programs, Wouk held more
than 10 patents, most of them related to hybrid and electric vehicles.
Wouk’s Time at Caltech
Mr. Wouk was born in the Bronx borough of New York City
in 1919. His father owned a laundry. A 1939 graduate of Columbia University,
he received his doctorate in electrical engineering from the California
Institute of Technology in 1942. After working for Westinghouse during World
War II, he founded the Beta Electric Corp., building it into a leading source
of high-voltage electrical supplies before selling the company in 1956.
Dr. Wouk spent World War II working on uranium
enrichment for Westinghouse Research Laboratories in Pittsburgh, and was part
of the Manhattan Project.
Wouk had a partner, Charles Rosen in developing the car.
Brother of author Herman Wouk
Victor Wouk was the brother of famed novelist Herman
Wouk, author of such well known novels as: The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, A Hole in Texas, and War and
Rememberance.
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