Wednesday 16th May 2012

770hp and 94mpg for Porsche 918 Spyder

And you thought BMW's swirly camouflage looked funky?

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Porsche is clearly on a single-manufacturer mission to make the hybrid cool.

Photos of 'half finished' mule have been released

Not only has it previously released an early 918 Spyder technology demonstrator looking like something Frankenstein would have created for Mad Max, it's now revealed the first full prototype images. And the car in question is finished in camouflage that pays homage to the 1970 Le Mans winning 917k.

What other carmaker could get away with that? What other carmaker would even think of that? And given the accompanying press release refers to "prototypes" with paint schemes "harking back to historical Porsche 917 racing cars", we can only assume the 05 represented here is more than just a random number.

Go on Porsche, tell us: is there a Steve McQueen-spec Gulf-camo 918 out there testing, too?

Gulf inspired disguise is a canny touch

Aside from looking pretty, these new 918 pics confirm the car has entered the "trials" phase. As such, it seems Porsche has now settled for a mere 770hp from the 3.4-litre V8 and twin electric motor combination (up 52hp compared to the original 2010 Geneva concept...), and is still on track to achieve 94mpg.

The 918 is a plug-in hybrid, so the batteries can be pre-charged before you even turn a wheel, which ought to help marry these two seemingly incompatible performance parameters. In lab conditions, at least.

However, the Spyder also features a full carbon fibre reinforced plastic monocoque, "fully" adaptive aerodynamics, adaptive rear-axle steering and exhaust pipes that vent upwards in a banned-from-F1 stylee.

On sale next year - for real!

Weirdly, Porsche also says "the 918 Spyder is offering a glimpse of what Porsche Intelligent Performance may be capable of in the future." Which is either self-evident - as it's still a prototype - or just out of whack, as surely it's building this stuff now?

Anyhoo, semantics. Those of you lucky enough to have an outstanding order will no doubt be pleased to hear that development is entirely on schedule. Production is set to start in September 2013, and the first 918s should reach customers by the end of next year.

 

[E38Ross]

i think one of the most important things that needs answering (or maybe it has already) is how long it can produce 770bhp for. obviously, the electric motors produce fairly significant power and if you're on a hoon or on track (lets face it, it's not going to be used for commuting in reality!) how long will it produce that power for?

if it's for something like 20 miles that's pants....you're going to have a stupidly fast car and then half way through a lovely twisty road you're going to have a sudden drop in power?

or am i missing something?

looks lovely though. Looking forward to the next McLaren which is to have, what was it, around 800bhp?

[chazwozza]

Be interesting to see how it actually drives day to day, surely this direction can only be a good thing? Be interesting to see what the electric only range is. If it has one...

[Watchman]

I thought the full 770bhp was only deployable in a manner similar to KERS, and that after your surge, you needed to let it recharge again.

[kazino]

Future of the hypercar, hope the tech filters down into models mortals can buy, would love 94mpg, although the weight must certainly make up for any savings when it comes to servicing costs?

[kambites]

They really need to do something about the way the combined fuel cycle deals with plug-in hybrids to get rid if ridiculous figures like this.

Nice looking car though.

[angry jock]

Article Said said:

Porsche is clearly on a single-manufacturer mission to make the hybrid cool.

Emm I know that PH seems to be on a permanent Porsche love in at the moment but lest you forget that a certain British manufacturer is launching a hybrid sportscar in the very near future and it should be a little more attainable price wise.

[Bill Carr]

Surely you would only ever need to produce the peak 770bhp in short bursts? E.g. even on a flat-out section of a track - let's say the start-finish straight - you're only going to be on full-throttle for 15-20 seconds, max.

I'm probably missing something obvious.

[E38Ross]

kambites said:

They really need to do something about the way the combined fuel cycle deals with plug-in hybrids to get rid if ridiculous figures like this.

Nice looking car though.

i don't think they take into account the fuel involved in plugging it in. would a fully electric car get infinite mpg....suggesting it never runs out of fuel? in reality, you need to refuel it every 100 miles or less.

[Frimley111R]

angry jock said:

Emm I know that PH seems to be on a permanent Porsche love in at the moment but lest you forget that a certain British manufacturer is launching a hybrid sportscar in the very near future and it should be a little more attainable price wise.

But its not that ^^^^^

[ArosaMike]

E38Ross said:

i think one of the most important things that needs answering (or maybe it has already) is how long it can produce 770bhp for. obviously, the electric motors produce fairly significant power and if you're on a hoon or on track (lets face it, it's not going to be used for commuting in reality!) how long will it produce that power for?

if it's for something like 20 miles that's pants....you're going to have a stupidly fast car and then half way through a lovely twisty road you're going to have a sudden drop in power?

or am i missing something?

looks lovely though. Looking forward to the next McLaren which is to have, what was it, around 800bhp?

I imagine not very long at all. If you go on the way any current hybrid depleats and charges its batteries, I'd be surprised if you had the full compliment of power for more than one or two accelerations, and if you were on track, I'd equally be surprised if it managed to recoup enough energy to ever give you the full boost again.

But...and this is the big one really...does that actually matter? These kind of hyper cars very, very rarely make it out on track, and if they do, you don't often see them driven at full attack. When was the last time anyone saw/heard about a Veyron on a track day? Most owners will buy them to pose in and/or use as bragging rights down the champagne bar. You've got to imagine they'll maybe go for full bore accel a couple of times every time they take it out, with plenty of coasting to charge the batteries after.

I for one, don't really see any harm in going all out on a technofest. At least it drives the tech forward and hopefully benefits 'normal' cars. If Porsche made a 911 with a mild hybrid, it might work quite well!

[ArosaMike]

Frimley111R said:

angry jock said:

Emm I know that PH seems to be on a permanent Porsche love in at the moment but lest you forget that a certain British manufacturer is launching a hybrid sportscar in the very near future and it should be a little more attainable price wise.

But its not that ^^^^^

You're actually forgetting this:



Very, very similar to the 918....

[ptn]

Frimley111R said:

angry jock said:

Emm I know that PH seems to be on a permanent Porsche love in at the moment but lest you forget that a certain British manufacturer is launching a hybrid sportscar in the very near future and it should be a little more attainable price wise.

But its not that ^^^^^

That is one of them, yes.

[markoc]

If it's anywhere as good on the road as it looks, then this will be superb.

Stunning.

[Zircon]

Is all this propoganda not entirely useless they sort out range and performance depletion?

In the last 10 years the car manufacturing industry just seems to be constantly churning out ideas with little substance.

[angry jock]

Frimley111R said:

angry jock said:

Emm I know that PH seems to be on a permanent Porsche love in at the moment but lest you forget that a certain British manufacturer is launching a hybrid sportscar in the very near future and it should be a little more attainable price wise.

But its not that ^^^^^

I would think that the pic I posted is a pretty good likeness to what the F-Type Coupe will look like.
I didn't see the point in posting a photoshopped, mule roadster. It will be coming to the market as a hybrid was my point. As someone else as pointed out the CX-75 will likely be a range extender hybrid as well.

[PaulMoor]

E38Ross said:

kambites said:

They really need to do something about the way the combined fuel cycle deals with plug-in hybrids to get rid if ridiculous figures like this.

Nice looking car though.

i don't think they take into account the fuel involved in plugging it in. would a fully electric car get infinite mpg....suggesting it never runs out of fuel? in reality, you need to refuel it every 100 miles or less.

Actualy they do. Most fully leccy cars quote an MPG equivelent. MPGe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_per_gallon_gaso...

[robmlufc]

I thought these used a Williams fly wheel rather than batteries?

[dunc_sx]

There's an evo vid/review of the test mule kicking about and he likes it iirc.

[garypotter]

Crikey, I saw a matt black mazda RX7 with green wheels this morning which looks like the twin of the 918 in the top picture!!

I do like the car but not the price or the battery pack sorry.

[KevSeymour]

How did they come to that 94mpg figure?

Was it a case of fully charging the batteries, put 1 gallon of petrol in then see how far it gets by running electric only til the batteries die and switching to petrol and running the tank dry?

Or did they fill the tank, and use the batteries in conjunction with the fuel and get the 94mpg as an average over a full tank?

Otherwise it's only going to do 94mpg for the first 94 miles, circa 20mpg there-after, right?

Edited by KevSeymour on Wednesday 16th May 12:23