Seite - 15 - in Our Car as Power Plant

15 Steam-, electricity- and petrol/gasoline-powered cars com- peted for decades, but in the 1910s the internal combustion engines on petrol/gasoline achieved dominance. Henry Ford became the icon of the automobile industry with his mission: building cars for everyone. From 1908 to 1927 the Ford Model T was the most widely produced and available 4-seater car of the era. 15 million Ford Model T’s were produced and sold in this period. T-Ford was proclaimed to be the most influential car of the 20th century in the international Car of the Century awards. The T-Ford had a four-cylinder engine, used a planetary transmission, and had a pedal-based control system. The T-Ford weighted about 550 kg. The engine was capable of running on gasoline, kerosene, or ethanol. The Model T was capable to produce 20 horse powers (15 kW), for a top speed of 64–72 km/h. According to Ford Motor Company, the Model T had a fuel economy on the order 11–18 liter/100 km (1).