Is the Porsche 911’s Future Electric?
Since the holidays will soon be upon us, let us journey a little way forward into the possible future with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.
The Ghost transports you to a crisp, Christmas morning—one just perfect for a spirited drive as traffic will be light. You go to your garage, and find a brand-new Porsche 911 with a big red bow on top of it waiting for you. You open the door, turn the key that is still, and always located to the left of the steering wheel, turn it… and nothing. But the battery isn’t dead. No, far from it, you discover you are driving an all-electric 911.
While lovers of the iconic Flat-6 engine might find an electric 911 unthinkable, there have been electric Porsches before. The 1900 Lohner-Porsche was developed by the father of the company, Ferdinand Porsche, for an Austrian carriage manufacturer. It featured two electric wheel hub motors powering just the front wheels. While primitive, the Lohner-Porsche led the way for other developments in the nascent automobile industry. In more modern times, Ruf, the German company has made its name over the last few decades turning Porsches into go-faster electric versions of the Porsche 911, called the eRuf Model A. Under the hood, instead of the venerable Flat-6, there is a brushless three-phase electric motor that generates a monstrous 480 lb.-ft of torque (from 0 rpm, mind you), and a top speed of 160 mph. The eRuf can transport you, and your passengers up to 200 miles on a single charge too. It is still a 911, after all.
Porsche itself recently announced it would be putting their Mission E Concept (shown above) into production by 2020. Dr. Wolfgang Porsche, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Porsche AG, even stated that “with Mission E, we are making a clear statement about the future of the brand. Even in a greatly changing motoring world, Porsche will maintain its front-row position with this fascinating sports car.” The company also said it would be creating 1,000 jobs, and investing over $1-billion into upgrades at its Zuffenhausen production facility, perhaps not coincidentally the same factory where its sports cars are manufactured.
Nobody should believe Porsche is doing all of this to sell just one line of niche vehicles. Rather all of this may point to a not far off future with an electrified 911 in the model range. The concept may be heretical to purists, but Tesla with their P90D has amply (pardon the pun) shown that all-electric cars can be not only emissions-free, but that they can rival, or even surpass their fossil-fuel-burning competition. While an all-electric 911 remains a matter of speculation, we certainly wouldn’t bet against some of the Mission E’s electric technology finding its way into the 911. Also due for replacement around the same time as the Mission E is a new 911. Another coincidence?
Do you believe the future is electric? With just about any Porsche the future is sure to be electrifying, but would you accept an electric 911, or even a hybrid as befitting the brand?