Christian von Koenigsegg is living every gearhead’s childhood dream of owning his own car company. Not only a car company, mind- but a car company that specializes in building the biggest, baddest, most cutting-edge hypercars known to man. That’s what Koenigsegg is, after all. And this sexy beast is Christian’s latest: the Koenigsegg Regera.
Like many of the current crop of million-dollar supercars new Regera is a 1000+ HP hybrid. But it’s not a hybrid in the way you might think.
Koenigsegg Regera Hybrid KDD Drivetrain
Unlike most hybrid cars, even hybrid supercars, the Koenigsegg Regera’s ethanol-burning 5.0 liter twin-turbo V8 powers the car’s rear wheels directly. There are no gears and there is no conventional transmission. Making up for the loss of a conventional gear set’s torque multiplication, though, are a team of powerful electric motors. All in, the Regera’s electric and ICE power plants generate a massive 1500 HP and more than 1400 lb-ft of torque.
That drive system is being called “the Koenigsegg Direct Drive Transmission”, or KDD. Conceived by Christian von Koenigsegg, the KDD is supposed to be a lighter, more efficient way to power cars. The copmany’s website claims that the KDD “replaces the combustion engine’s traditional transmission and gives the added benefit of pure EV mode. What is unique is that the KDD manages to create direct drive to rear axle from the combustion engine without the need of multitude gears or other traditional types of variable transmissions, with inherently high energy losses.” Then continues, explaining that, “during highway travel, for example, the KDD reduces drivetrain losses, compared to traditional transmission or CVT by over 50%, as there is no step up or step down gear working in series with the final drive – just direct power transmission from the engine to the wheels.”
The seemingly complicated KDD system does add a bit of weight to the Regera. Any hybrid system would, of course- but, even here, the Regera team says the car is ahead of the curve. “The complete KDD system, including the battery, adds a mere 88kg to the Regera´s weight, compared to what the Regera would have weighed with a traditional ICE, coupled to a 7 speed DCT transmission instead of the KDD. Presently no other hybrid Hypercar even comes close to this type of weight ratio for their electrification. This is interesting, as they all have smaller battery capacity and less electric power than the Regera.”
You can find out more about this incredibly advanced cottage-industry supercar in this thirty-minute video, below. It’s produced by Shmee 150 and, more importantly, is co-hosted by Christian von Koenigsegg, himself, as they take this baddest of all hybrids on a wintery tour.
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