Porsche Plugs Panamera Turbo SE Hybrid At New York Preview

The Porsche 918 Hybrid was the most powerful production car ever made by the company. This week at the New York auto show, the second most powerful production Porsche ever was front and center on the dais — the Panamera Turbo SE Hybrid. This über sedan from the Stuttgart takes the same twin turbo V-8 550 horsepower engine featured in the Panamera Turbo S and mates it to a 136 horsepower electric motor for a total of 686 horses straining to be unleashed.

When the driver stomps the go pedal, things happen in a hurry. The factory quotes a 0-60 time of 3.2 seconds for the 5,200 lb sedan. Ceramic brakes, torque vectoring, and active suspension management all are standard, of course. Power is apportioned to all 4 wheels via and eight speed dual clutch automatic transmission. A 14.1 kWh lithium ion battery provides an estimated electric-only driving range of 31 miles. Porsche says it can be charged in six hours using the standard 3.6 kilowatt onboard charger or in less than three hours using an optional 7.2 kW unit connected to a 240 volt outlet.

The 2018 Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid is expected to reach US dealers by the end of 2017. It will also be offered in a stretched Executive edition with a 5.9-inch longer wheelbase. The base suggested retail price for the 2018 Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid will be $184,400, while the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Executive will start at $194,800. These prices exclude the $1,050 delivery, processing and handling fee.

The Panamera Turbo SE Hybrid may pay tribute to the Porsche 918 Hybrid but a sports car it is not. Its weight is hundreds of pounds more than the combined weight of a  a 1963 356B 1600 and a 1965 911. You won’t see one of these at your next track day event. It is also hard to imagine the car has much green cred even though it is a plug-in hybrid. Everything about the car shouts “Excessive!” Porsche should be embarrassed that a car this expensive only comes with a wimpy 3.6 kw charger as standard equipment.

The Panamera Turbo SE Hybrid little more than a bauble for 1%ers. It may assuage some guilty consciences while it is parked in the family four car garage next to the Ferrari, the Mercedes, and the Bentley, but it is irrelevant to any rational conversation about sustainability. But hey, if you’ve got it, flaunt it. Just don’t start weeping crocodile tears when the price of gas cracks $3 a gallon.

Source: Car and Driver

GKN eAxle Brings Supercar Technology To Plug-in Hybrid Cars

Whether we realize it or not, there are a lot of companies that supply major components to the automobile industry. As more and more cars adopt plug-in hybrid powertrains, the components that make them go are increasingly supplied by outside manufacturers. One such supplier is GKN, a European company that specializes in components for plug-in hybrid cars. Its products have been featured in some of the world’s most impressive supercars like the Porsche 918 Hybrid and the BWW i8 plug-in hybrid sports car. They are also found in the new Volvo XC90 T8 plug-in hybrid.

Now GKN wants to take what it learned from designing drive systems for those two cars and apply it to improving the powertrains of popularly priced cars, the ones that real people use every day. Its eAxle system will enable those vehicles to offer buyers a plug-in hybrid option with improved performance and a reduction in CO2 emissions of more than 50%, according to Next Gen Transportation News.

An evolution of the system GKN designed for the Porsche 918 Spyder, the single speed eAxle weighs less than 50 lbs. A two stage geartrain with a gear ratio of 12.5 provides up to 1,475 lb-ft of torque. It provides up to 87 horsepower for electric only driving and balances the torque applied to each wheel when used in all wheel drive mode. An electro-mechanical dog clutch disconnects the electric motor at higher vehicle speeds. An open coupling minimizes rotating losses when disengaged.

GKN says a typical small plug-in hybrid has about 134 horsepower from its gasoline engine. Adding a GKN eAxle with 87 additional horsepower available can improve 0 to 60 times by several seconds.  Front-wheel drive vehicle platforms can integrate GKN’s eAxle modules into the vehicle’s rear assembly to provide a combination of plug-in hybrid and electric all-wheel-drive functionalities. The eAxle can also be combined with GKN’s eTwinster torque vectoring technology to further improve driving dynamics.

You may not recognize the name GKN, but the chances are that if you drive a plug-in hybrid car in the future, GKN will be an important part of the powertrain in your car.