Compression ignition or diesel engines were first used about 1910 for smaller sternwheel towboats, but did not gain ascendancy until the late 1930s, when diesel-powered propeller boats appeared.
It has been stated that the reason for creating such a car was to show that a hybrid car can have the same performance as a gasoline- or diesel-powered car.
However, most farm families who had electricity generated it themselves using battery systems charged by wind turbines or gasoline- or diesel-powered generators.