Porsche Continues to Move Ahead with its Hybrid Technology

Porsche Continues to Move Ahead with its Hybrid Technology

by Porsche PR

tags: hybrid porsche porsche cayenne sports car suvs

The manufacturer of sought-after high-performance vehicles targets a 30 percent decrease in fuel consumption while maintaining Porsche performance

ATLANTA, February 7, 2008 – Just as Porsche engineers proved in the past that rear-engine sports cars can outperform larger and more powerful competitors and high-performance SUVs can be outstanding both on and off road, they are now busy on the next challenge – fuel-efficient and high performance hybrid cars and SUVs.

Porsche will first come to market with the Cayenne Hybrid SUV by the end of this decade to be followed by the Panamera Hybrid. After Porsche introduces its much anticipated four-door Gran Turismo in 2009, its engineers intend to achieve the company’s environmental goal of a 30 percent decrease in fuel consumption with a hybrid version, while offering the high-performance attributes of a Porsche in a four door sports sedan.

The Stuttgart, Germany based auto manufacturer is forging its own technological path through the hybrid landscape. The Cayenne’s and the Panamera’s parallel hybrid system is configured with the battery unit positioned below the luggage compartment, and the hybrid module, comprised of an additional clutch and electric motor, is between the engine and transmission. Depending on driving conditions, the hybrid module can disengage either the combustion engine or the electric motor or can combine both drive systems as one joint power unit. This flexibility results in benefits such as a zero emissions driving mode, fuel savings in both city and highway driving, and maximum performance when needed.

Coordinating the hybrid system’s three main components – the combustion engine, the electric motor and the battery – is the Hybrid Manager. Overseeing some 20,000 data parameters as compared to only 6,000 data parameters for a conventional engine, the Hybrid Manager is one of the most powerful technologies found in any hybrid vehicle.

The Porsche hybrid concept makes use of a parallel design because the hybrid component’s in-line configuration is more compatible with the existing Cayenne and Panamera platforms.

Porsche is no stranger to hybrid technology. More than a century ago, Prof. Ferdinand Porsche, father of Dr. Ferdinand ‘Ferry’ Porsche and the founder of the car company we know today, developed the electric wheel-hub motor, a drive system he intended as an alternative to combustion engines on his early vehicles. Hailed as “the greatest invention of the age” by one trade journal, its debut at the World’s Fair in Paris on April 14, 1900 hurdled Ferdinand Porsche to worldwide fame overnight.

Porsche soon after developed the world’s first hybrid when he added two gasoline engines to recharge the on-board batteries that powered his wheel-hub motors, which generated equal buzz in Paris in 1901. Coincidentally, the Chicago Auto Show also made its debut in 1901, so in a sense Porsche shares a bit of kindred spirit with the 2008 Chicago International Auto Show as both Porsche’s hybrid history and this important auto industry exposition share a most memorable birthday.

Porsche Cars North America, Inc. PCNA!, based in Atlanta, Ga., and its subsidiary, Porsche Cars Canada, Ltd., are the exclusive importers of Porsche sports cars and Cayenne sport utility vehicles for the United States and Canada. A wholly owned, indirect subsidiary of Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche AG, PCNA employs approximately 250 people who provide Porsche vehicles, parts, service, marketing and training for its 212 U.S. and Canadian dealers. They, in turn, provide Porsche owners with best-in-class service.