What is it?
Porsche is keen to sell us plug-in hybrids. It now makes three, although one is rather unaffordable, it being the £652,849 918 Spyder. The other two are the Panamera and the new Porsche Cayenne e-Hybrid, which replaces the plain hybrid version.
This upgraded petrol-electric Cayenne is part of the revised range presenting a freshened styling and new features that include the economy-promoting coasting mode provided by the previous hybrid alone, stop-start that kills the engine a few mph before halting and a launch-control system with the optional Sport Chrono pack.
It also has more precise suspension geometry and a greater dynamic range between the Comfort and Sport modes for both steel-sprung and air-suspended versions. Improved rear seat comfort and a heated screen option are among the detail improvements.
But the upgrades to the Cayenne hybrid are a lot more substantial. Aside from the facility to plug it into a cheaper mains energy supply, a lithium-ion battery pack of almost six times the kilowatt-hour capacity replaces the previous nickel-metal hydride pack.
That allows the electric motor’s output to jump from 46bhp to 94bhp, while the electric-only range lengthens from 1.6 miles to between 11 and 22 miles, although Porsche’s development engineers say they’ve gone further.
It now cruises at up to 78mph rather than 40mph on amperes alone, and its 410bhp system output allows it a 5.9sec sprint to 62mph rather than the 6.5sec of the previous 380bhp hybrid. Its CO2 emissions reduce spectacularly from 193g/km to 79g/km, although the EU’s methods for measuring plug-in hybrid economy and carbon emissions are seriously misleading.
That said, this hybrid Cayenne will be genuinely cheaper to run than the last, tax-wise and when maximising travel on electricity alone. Of which there’s a good chance.
Add your comment
faultlessly synchronising with the electric motor’s what??
Yours faithfully
The Apostrophe Police
pauld101 wrote:I think you're
No - there is only one electric motor. I think they meant faultlessly synchronising with the electric motor’s torque.
Is it really that
Using only the electric motor, the seven-seat XC90 T8 will travel around 25 miles on a single charge. Official combined CO2 emissions will be around 60g/km, which means fuel economy of around 109mpg.
Citytiger wrote:Is it really
Whilst I can't comment on the looks of the XC90 T8 as I've yet to see one the performance is impressive, is it around the same price, £61,000 , as this Porsche for comparision purposes???
xxxx wrote: Whilst I can't
The XC90 T8 Momentum is priced from £59,955. Higher spec R-Design and Inscription trim levels cost more.
range increase
xxxx wrote:That’s a 10 fold
It is - but it's nearly a 10-fold increase in battery capacity as well so not really that surprising. Production battery energy density is still woeful - I wouldn't mind betting that to store enough electrical energy for 22 (cycle) miles the battery alone will be somewhere between 150 - 200kg. Now think how far you could get on 200 - 270 litres of fuel...
Only because most of the nuclear power stations were shut down and the wind farms were being helped by the tail-end of hurricane Gonzalo. Not really a great comparison... (just to be be clear - I hate nuclear energy and on-shore windfarms about as much as each other!)
Maths Stavers
Actually the story says "a lithium-ion battery pack of almost six times the kilowatt-hour capacity replaces the previous nickel-metal hydride pack." so I'm not sure how you come up with 10 times. And Wind power has got this far in about 15 years whereas Nuclear power has had about 3 times that. p.s. I love offf-shore wind farms and solar panels
Autocar wrote: if you
How economical? It would be interesting to know. The author rightly mentions the ridiculous EU testing method for these vehicles but doesn't mention what was actually achieved on test.