Porsche has shared pictures of its new 911 Hybrid (992.2) being tested in the sands of Dubai and at the Nürburgring, where it took almost 9 seconds off the lap time of what I guess may be the 992.1 Carrera. That sounds pretty impressive – I wonder what the cost per second will work out to when the list price is revealed.
Porsche Hybrid Nürburgring Test
Over the course of performance testing, Porsche brand ambassador Jörg Bergmeister completed a lap of the circuit in 7:16.934 minutes – 8.7 seconds faster than the corresponding version of the predecessor model. The test car was equipped with standard road tyres, plus the aero kit with a fixed rear wing that has been available as an option for several model generations now, and which provides increased downforce at high speeds.
“The new 911 has become considerably faster on the track,” says Bergmeister. “We have more grip, significantly more power, and the spontaneous response of the performance hybrid is a great advantage.”
Porsche 911 Hybrid Techical Specification
The obvious question is what sort of system is Porsche using in the 911 Hybrid but there is little detail about this in Porsche press land. Writing for Car and Driver this year, the well connected journalist Georg Kacher said that the lightweight c.27-kilo system would likely be Rimac designed (the EV company that Porsche has a 45% stake in) and feature a 400v electrical system with an integrated starter-generator, an 80-90hp electric motor driving the front wheels and a 2kWh battery recharged by the engine and regenerative braking. We will have to wait and see what the system actually looks like in practice.
When is a Hybrid not a Hybrid
A recent trip to Brescia in Italy to inspect an old 911 race car saw me renting my third Fiat Panda/500 hybrid in Italy in under 12 months (see above). Badged as a Hybrid, the car basically has a bigger alternator and a miniscule battery that cannot drive the car but helps the stop-start work recharge quicker. It makes the cars eligible for low emission/ZTL zones in the old towns, and the Panda’s economy was good over 200kms but it is hardly what one would seriously call a hybrid drivetrain. I’m looking forward to seing what Porsche’s first part-electric 911 looks like.
Five Million Kilometres of Testing
“We left nothing to chance during development and tested the new 911 under all sorts of conditions all over the world,” said Frank Moser, Vice President Model Line 911 and 718. “From the freezing cold to scorching heat, as was the case during the final stages of testing in Dubai. Whether at a high drivetrain load in the demanding conditions of mountain passes or in the stop-and-go traffic of an urban environment, the new 911 has mastered even the most difficult challenges with aplomb. All in all, our engineers and test drivers clocked up more than five million kilometres of development driving.”
Hybrid drivetrains are leading the way in the transition from oil to electric. Auto Trader recently announced that one in five used cars next year would be an EV and the market is taking its time to adopt them for various reasons including higher purchase price, perceived safety concerns, practicality of longer range driving and long term reliability and maintenance costs. Leading with the 911 hybrid drivetrain rather an introducing a full EV version obviously makes the most sense, but the idea of a full EV 911 with lightweight batteries and what that might do for Nurburgring lap times is also an enticing prospect. We might expect that in the 2030 998, says Kacher.
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Ferdinand Magazine is the personal blog of John Glynn, a writer, classic car and motorcycle valuations expert and court expert witness. To explore and enjoy more of my work, and to support the Ferdinand Porsche blog, you can:
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