The Elektromote

 World's first trolleybus, Berlin 1882

April 29, 1882:

The "Elektromote" – forerunner of the trolleybus – is tested by Ernst Werner von Siemens in Berlin.
The Electromote was the world's first vehicle run like a trolleybus, which was first presented to the public on April 29, 1882, by its inventor Dr. Ernst Werner von Siemens in Halensee, a suburb of Berlin, Germany. The Elektromote operated from April 29 to June 13, 1882, on a 540 m (591 yard) trail-track starting at Halensee train station, and thence to “Straße No. 5”, today's Joachim-Friedrich-Straße, and “Straße No. 13”, today's Johann-Georg-Straße, crossing the Kurfürstendamm at the Kurfürstenplatz.
The Electromote built by the Siemens & Halske company was a converted four-wheel landau carriage, equipped with two 2.2 kW electric motors transmitting the power using a chain drive to the rear wheels. The voltage used was 550 V DC. The electric power transmission to the coach was by a flexible cable pulling a small eight-wheeled "contact car" (Kontaktwagen) that ran along the overhead power lines. In English language use, the Kontaktwagen was later named the "trolley", giving the trolleybus its name.
This experimental vehicle already fulfilled all the technical criteria of a typical trolleybus. After the demonstration runs closed on June 13, the test track was dismantled on June 20, 1882.

I wouldn't have guessed that the Elektromote was one of Siemens' later projects:

 Siemens left school without finishing his education, but joined the army to undertake training in engineering. Siemens was thought of as a good soldier, receiving various medals. Upon returning home from war, he put his mind to other uses. He is known world-wide for his advances in various technologies, and chose to work on perfecting technologies that had already been established. In 1843 he sold the rights to his first invention to Elkington of Birmingham.^[1] Siemens invented a telegraph that used a needle to point to the right letter, instead of using Morse code. Based on this invention, he founded the company Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske on 1 October 1847, with the company taking occupation of its workshop on 12 October.

Another one of those college dropouts who still did well for himself.