Hybrid Porsche 918 Spyder Concept Unveiled!

Car Covers Home Page » Motoring News » Hybrid Porsche 918 Spyder Concept Unveiled!

Click for more images Tell a friend Bookmark & share:	Go back » Details: Date: 04 Mar 2010
Description: Porsche have just unveiled their new hybrid 918 concept at the Geneva Auto Show, and by our reckoning it is set to take the world by storm. The Porsche 918 Spyder hybrid concept is a 2 seat mid engined supercar that features a combination of standard and electric drive technologies. Porsche have stated that their 918 Spyder concept will happily have a 0-60 mph time of less than 3.2 seconds, and a top speed of just under 200 mph. Apparently it is even faster than the Carrera GT around the Nürburgring as well. All of this may seem impressive but obviously one thing you need with any hybrid like the 918 Spyder concept is green credentials, and Porsche promise plenty of those. Figures being bandied around seem to indicate something in the region of 78 mpg and just 70 grams of C02 per kilometer putting it straight in the 'A' band (up to 100 g/km) for vehicle tax in the UK which is completely free. Under the bonnet the Porsche 918 Spyder Concept uses a mid mounted 3.4 litre high revving V8 that is capable of reaching some 9200 rpm and outputting more than 500 bhp. The electric motors are mounted on both the front and rear axles and add 218 horsepower and lots of torque to this output. A 7 speed gearbox connects the power from the V8 and the rear electric motor to the rear wheels, whilst the front wheels are driven using a fixed ratio by the front electric motor. The Porsche 918 Spyder Concept features a carbon fibre reinforced plastic chassis laced with magnesium and aluminium in relevant areas in order to keep the weight down (batteries and charging equipment are notoriously heavy so weight savings have been made elsewhere). Variable aerodynamics on the Porsche 918 Spyder Concept work to extend and retract the rear hoods that sit behind the headrests at speed, along with the retractable air intakes that provide extra cooling when it is needed most. The lithium ion batteries that sit just behind the cockpit area of the Porsche 918 Spyder Concept are liquid cooled and can be plugged into the mains at home to charge, or they can be charged as the vehicle is in motion by using brake regeneration technology. It is understood that when driving the Porsche 918 Spyder Concept four modes can be selected. These allow the vehicle to be operated on just electric power, a true hybrid mode designed for economy, a sport hybrid mode that uses both systems at maximum performance, and a race hybrid mode. The hybrid Porsche 918 Spyder Concept is packed with the latest technologies as you might expect, such as a range manager sat nav system that displays how much range the vehicle still has in the various modes, and an energy management gauge sat next to the road and engine speed dials. Many of the cars controls are accessed by a touch screen mounted on the centre console that features a user friendly navigation system.