porsche 911 hybrid

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Porsche 911 Hybrid: It’s Real and It’s Happening. Right Now.

Amidst all the fanfare surrounding EVs—much of it starting from within Porsche’s own camp—the thought of the company’s flagship 911 model being subjected to some form of electrification has often been overlooked. This sentiment is overwhelmingly a reflection of enthusiasts and consumers who, deep down inside, are resigned to the fact that this is inevitable if the 911 lineage is to continue in the years and decades to follow. Porsche themselves though—reluctantly, or not—have already been hard at work embracing this notion, and are now showing tangible evidence of what the path forward will look like.

In my personal experience, I believe that Porsche’s fully-electric platform—exclusively represented by the Taycan range for now—provides very promising prospects and a solid template for a future with ICE-less 911 models. But that’s something we won’t have to think about much, at least for now, as hybridization, rather than full-on electrification, will be Porsche’s immediate solution to address the changing automotive landscape; and it’s more than likely that we’ll see this come to fruition during the current 992-generation.

To quell any doubts of this being the case, the proof is in the pudding, as they used to say. The video below (credit: CarSpyMedia) shows what conspicuously appears to be a 911 Hybrid being tested at the Nürburgring Nordschleife earlier this month.

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As the video footage reveals, these are still the very early days of prototyping; the car appears to struggle from handling issues likely born from all the extra weight the car is carrying with the new hybrid system installed. We can all remain confident that Porsche will take the necessary steps to balance the car and engineer a happy medium between the chassis and its xeno-drivetrain—after all, they’ve already proven they can do as much via the 5,000 lbs+ Taycan platform.

Few details about the car are known, but we do know that Porsche’s ‘E-Hybrid’ nomenclature—currently used in the Panamera and Cayenne lineups—will be adopted for the 911 range. The first 911 trim likely to be ‘E-Hybridized’ will be the Turbo S model, and it will likely sit at the very top of the range in terms of price and overall performance. The current word is that Porsche 911 Turbo S E-Hybrid will feature a 400-volt system, which will compliment the existing 3.7L twin-turbocharged flat-6 petrol engine.

Some outlets are suggesting that it won’t be a plug-in hybrid model, though I’d be surprised if this was the case; the fully-electric Taycan uses 800-volt architecture, while conventional ‘mild’ hybrid systems (which aren’t plug-ins) are well under 100-volts. But then again, EV technology is improving at a rapid pace. As a hybrid, we can expect the new 911 to be mechanically the same, or similar, everywhere else. That should mean no changes in the transmission department, with a 7-speed or 8-speed dual clutch transmission sending power to all four wheels. The suspension and chassis are sure to be tweaked and tinkered with to ensure that the essence of the 911’s driving dynamics remain intact, if not enhanced, by the hybrid drivetrain—it should turn out to be the very same 911 that we’ve all come to love, only with some slightly different hardware.

Just how soon will the Porsche 911 Turbo S E-Hybrid be a real thing? We’re told that it’ll likely arrive as a 2023 or 2024 model, meaning it could debut as early as the tail-end of next year —yes, it’s coming that fast and just in time to usher in the ‘992.2’ era. Porsche has yet to officially confirm that such a car even exists, but as has been proven before—most recently with the new GT4 RS—actions certainly speak louder than words, or lack thereof. In fact, the 911 isn’t even the first Porsche model to feature in recent conversations with regards to hybridization or electrification; Porsche has already announced that it plans to introduce an EV to the 718 range no later than 2025.

My Thoughts:

While the development of eFuels is a positive step in extending the life of the 911 without having to consider full-on electrification, hybridization is a rather obvious next-step in the timeline of Stuttgart’s most iconic and long-standing model. The big-wigs at Porsche are already suggesting that this latest version of eFuels may even allow internal combustion cars to achieve a smaller overall carbon footprint than an electric car, particularly when taking into consideration, the byproducts created from battery manufacturing. “This technology is particularly important because the combustion engine will continue to dominate the automotive world for many years to come,” said Porsche R&D Executive, Michael Steiner. “If you want to operate the existing fleet in a sustainable manner, eFuels are a fundamental component.”

“Porsche is committed to three powertrains: purely electric, plug-in-hybrids, and highly efficient gasoline engines. From Porsche’s point of view, eFuels open up an opportunity for our plug-in hybrid models as well as our icon, the 911—either with a combustion engine or as a very sporty hybrid. This means that we could continue to drive the 911 for many years to come, which will certainly make our customers and fans happy.”

Either way, the existence of the combustion engine—either as a standalone unit, or complimented by electric motors—is realistically viable for “many years to come”, to quote Michael Steiner. For fans of the 911 this can only be good news; even if you’re not a fan of hybrids, today’s hypercars have certainly showcased how impressive the technology is from just a performance standpoint, and if the prospect of that (that being, a 1,000 hp+ Porsche 911 from the factory) doesn’t excite any car enthusiast, I don’t know what will.

November 12, 2021 / Comments Off

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Vonnen Performance – Porsche 911 Hybrid

Vonnen Performance Offers Glimpse Into What a Production 911 Hybrid Could Look Like

Here we are in the year 2019, yet even the thought of a fully-electric 911 feels sacrilege; but a hybrid, on the other hand, is certainly inevitable and likely not that far off. After all, Porsche’s own 918 Spyder has long possessed the technology which is overdue for a trickle-down into the rest of the Porsche lineup – the 911 being next-in-line.

Even before Porsche has officially committed itself to a production 911 Hybrid, California-based Vonnen Performance has already staked an unofficial claim to the pioneering of this venture with a proprietary hybrid conversion kit called Vonnen Shadow Drive (VSD). At the present time, VSD is designed solely for integration into a 991.1 naturally aspirated 911 Carrera, with future plans to expand compatibility with other makes and models.

The VSD conversion is able to complement the base Carrera’s factory combustion engine, adding up to 150-horsepower and 150 lb-ft of torque without requiring an overhaul of the factory electronics systems nor with the side effect of significant weight gains. The lightweight battery, electric motor, and various system components have a combined net weight increase of just 170 pounds. The aforementioned motor recharges the battery by storing and transferring energy generated by the combustion engine and through braking forces.

Vonnen president Chuck Moreland claims that the biggest appeals of the VSD conversion are its user-friendliness, simplicity and non-disruptive nature. What this translates to is a system that can be easily accessed through a smartphone app interface, has selectable driving modes (such as ‘Track’ and ‘Overboost’), can be turned on or off completely with the touch of a button, and provides real-time monitoring and data-logging which can be uploaded to the cloud.

That is not to say that the inner-workings of the system are neither complex nor advanced, as its brain actively conducts an orchestra of information to ensure the system is performing optimally under all conditions.

The seamless integration not only applies to the interface-side of things but also to the most important factor – the driving experience. While providing a significant bump in power over the base Carrera’s 350-horsepower and 287 lb-ft of torque, the car maintains near-instantaneous throttle response and linear power delivery with the electric motor at play. This makes the car feel more likened to the naturally-aspirated GT3 in terms of power than say, the Turbo. Vonnen VP Bill Davis remarks, “It basically feels like you’re driving a bigger-engined car”

A PDK-equipped car is able to improve its 0-60 mph time from 4.2 seconds to 3.6 seconds with the system turned on and set at Overboost. While VSD is compatible with a manual transmission model, PDK is able to extract the full potential of the system due to having more robust mechanical components which are better suited to deal with the significant increase in torque.

There are some shortcomings that potential users will be forced to consider before purchasing and installing VSD. The first is its price – $75,000 USD installed – which is rather hefty when taking into account that a second-hand base 991.1 Carrera will be ten to fifteen grand less than the entire system itself. However, for those seeking to consume the latest fixings of technology while also maintaining a purist-appeal – something very rare indeed – the price may have less of a factor.

Then there are the mechanical drawbacks to the system such as the heat it generates. The system has a temperature failsafe of 302 degrees Fahrenheit, beyond which point it will automatically shut down to cool off. This has the potential to occur quite frequently depending on driving habits and ambient conditions; however, it should be noted that the cooling process is typically completed within one minute or less.

Acknowledging this, Vonnen continues to commit its resources to improve the cooling system so it can be pushed harder and recover more quickly, as the release date for a production-version system approaches.

Porsche 911 Hybrid Image Gallery

June 2, 2019 / Comments Off

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Porsche 911 hybrid will be ‘most powerful 911 we’ve ever had’

Looks like we need to revise our idea of the coming Porsche 911 hybrid. In January, an article in Automobile reported that the electrically assisted 911 due around 2023 could produce around 485 horsepower and 561 pound-feet of torque. There could be such a 911 hybrid among the lineup — Porsche has fit its E-Hybrid system to two models in various outputs. But company CEO Oliver Blume told Autocar that the hybrid 911 “will be the most powerful 911 we’ve ever had; 700 bhp might be possible.”

Without qualifiers, we’d assume Blume’s actually thinking of a number beyond 700 hp, because the 911 GT2 RS already makes seven centuries of ponies. If we qualify the statement to standard series models, then engineers only need to beat the 607 hp in the Porsche 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series.

A couple of items lead us to believe the plug-in 911 will go to the other side of 700 hp. First, a Motor Trend report from four years ago predicted it, telling us to “expect hybridized, plug-in 700-plus-hp versions of both the Panamera Turbo S and the 911 Turbo S” by 2017. Those two vehicles would begin to showcase everything Porsche created and learned with the 918 Spyder and 919 Hybrid Le Mans racer. The timing was a tad off, the sentiment apparently spot on.

Second, the present Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid already makes 680 hp with the help of a 136-hp electric motor. True, the Panamera uses a 4.0-liter V8 making 550 on its own. However, with the 3.8-liter flat-six in the Turbo S Executive at 607 hp, slipping the e-motor into that car would surpass the target right now. The question now is whether the 911 hybrid becomes the new Turbo S, or if it commands the new, higher top step. Blume also said the electrified coupe will contain “a special button for the electric punch.” We hope that button is mounted on the steering wheel.

The 911 plug-in comes “a couple of years” after the next 911, which could mean an unveil at the end of 2020, with deliveries toward the end of 2021.

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March 9, 2018 / Comments Off

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