Porsche Testing 911 Hybrid Car Developed on F1 Technology
The Porsche 911 has been considered a legendary sports car platform for as long as sports cars have existed. Porsche is now testing a 911 hybrid that uses F1 technology.
It is rather ironic to learn that Porsche is testing a hybrid version of its famous 911. Why? Well, the founder of the company Ferdinand Porsche, actually is credited with creating the first hybrid in 1900 called the Lohner Porsche Semper Vivus. Given this long history, it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that the company is taking a different approach to the hybrid task.
Most hybrid cars work by using high energy batteries that store and distribute energy accordingly. Porsche, however, is looking away from this technology and towards Formula One for a different approach. The racing championship tried to incorporate green energy during the 2009 season. The process was known as “KERS”, which stood for kinetic energy recovery system. It captured energy from the braking system which was then stored in a fly wheel type of device and could be used to give the car a short burst of horse power. Ferrari was particularly adept at using the car.
Porsche is essentially trying to do the same thing. The test car has been designated the 911 GT3 R Hybrid. It will be debuted at the Geneva show in March 2010, but information is already out and about. Regardless, the car will incorporate the technology of the Formula One cars. It is designed not to drive the car consistently, but to give the drive a boost of power when he or she needs it such as when entering freeways and such.
This approach is interesting for a number of reasons. First, it really isn’t a hybrid per se since the car will be powered by a traditional engine. Second, does a Porsche really need more power? Third, Formula One has dropped the technology from their cars and had problems with drivers getting shocked when exiting the cars! Still, Porsche should be able to figure out the issues and punching the KERS button on the steering wheel should make for one heck of a fun ride!