<P> At the turn of the 20th century electrically powered automobiles were a popular method of automobile propulsion, but their common use did not last long, and they diminished to a niche market until the turn of the 21st century . </P> <P> The early history of the automobile was concentrated on the search for a reliable portable power unit to propel the vehicle . </P> <P> Ferdinand Verbiest, a member of a Jesuit mission in China, built a steam - powered vehicle around 1672 as a toy for the Chinese Emperor . It was small scale and could not carry a driver but it was, quite possibly, the first working steam - powered vehicle (' auto - mobile'). </P> <P> Steam - powered self - propelled vehicles large enough to transport people and cargo were first devised in the late 18th century . Nicolas - Joseph Cugnot demonstrated his fardier à vapeur ("steam dray"), an experimental steam - driven artillery tractor, in 1770 and 1771 . As Cugnot's design proved to be impractical, his invention was not developed in his native France . The center of innovation shifted to Great Britain . By 1784, William Murdoch had built a working model of a steam carriage in Redruth and in 1801 Richard Trevithick was running a full - sized vehicle on the roads in Camborne . The first automobile patent in the United States was granted to Oliver Evans in 1789 . </P>

Where was the first car invented in the world