Robert Llewellyn: Porsche’s hybrid is a combustion beast dolled up as a EV beauty
Up until the other day I had never even sat in a Porsche so when I was handed the keys of a two tonne Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid I was a little bit overwhelmed.
I'll say this at the start, those Porsche chaps love buttons.
There are so many buttons on the dense, information rich console the initial reaction is mild panic.
However, I was sitting in a Porsche and I had to deal with it.
Up until the other day I had never even sat in a Porsche so when I was handed the keys of a two tonne Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid I was a little bit overwhelmed.
I'll say this at the start, those Porsche chaps love buttons.
There are so many buttons on the dense, information rich console the initial reaction is mild panic.
However, I was sitting in a Porsche and I had to deal with it.
I've made it a simple rule now that I will never drive anything that isn't either pure electric or at the very least, a hybrid, preferably a plug-in hybrid.
The Panamera I sat in was indeed a plug in hybrid.
Porsche goes electric
It has a 9kWh battery pack taking up a bit of space in the boot, a 95 horsepower electric motor built into the traditional drivetrain between the 3-litre, 6 cylinder petrol engine and the 8 speed twin clutch ultra smooth gearbox.
The only thing differentiating it from the standard Panamera S is the green edged lettering on the name badge and the green brake callipers visible through the butch alloy spokes of the massive tyres.
Okay, that and the discreet charge port located on the opposite side to the fossil input tunnel.
The main thing I learned after spending a couple of days with this super high end sports car is I now feel the need to test drive the pure gas guzzling model. I simply have nothing to compare the E-hybrid version to.
I regularly drive a plug in Prius, in terms of buttons it doesn't come close, in terms of speed, forget it, but in terms of fuel economy, it makes a bit of a mockery of this ultra hybrid for the 0.1 per cent.
You can plug the Panamera into a charger and fill the battery in about three hours. I did this in a car park using the very unusual bulky transformer and lead that comes with the car.
As with all plug in hybrids you don't have to do this. You can just fill the tank and drive it. When I received the car it has a fairly empty tank, so £84 later, it was full.
Again I had no context, £84 would fill my Prius tank twice giving me a total range of over 1,200 miles, I had no idea how far the Panamera would travel.
Early the next morning I set off to drive from central London to Donington Park race circuit outside Derby, a journey of 115 miles.
As advertised, the first 20 miles were easily accomplished on pure electric power.
The car is incredibly easy to drive, smooth, quiet and, considering the size and weight, very swift. When I pulled on to the M1 at Edgware, the car had no problem achieving motorway speeds.
I'll rephrase that as I'm someone used to driving my Nissan LEAF in the slow lane behind a truck. The Panamera has no problem breaking motorway speed limits regardless of the motive power, yes, it's a Porsche; it goes like stink.
When the six cylinder engine started up there was barely a murmur, I noticed the car starting to gently go through it's prodigious collection of gears until I was cruising along at a speed that won't be revealed, in 8th gear.
I don't know why I'm being so coy about the speed as needless to say I was constantly being overtaken by black BMWs and white vans with pipes on the roof.
But owning a car that can reach 160 miles an hour anywhere other than Germany is a bit baffling, driving on the M1 early on a Thursday morning surrounded by dense traffic cameras made it all seem a bit unnecessary.
Greening up the beast
As this German built monster chewed up the miles with barely a murmur, I watched the fuel consumption drop from 99.9 mpg to 43. You could only get as low as 43 mpg in my Prius if you took it on a track and hammered the hell out of it, but the Panamera is bigger, heavier and faster.
By the time I got back to London, after a total of 230 odd miles, the dash was telling me I'd managed 39.3 mpg.
I don't know if this is good for a Porsche, what sort of mpg do you get in the standard Porsche Panamera S? I've no idea but I suspect it's a lot worse [ed-at best a combustion-only Panamera S is rated as achieving 44.8mpg on a combined cycle]. I'm aware this is a silly question, who buys a car like this and worries about fuel consumption, the global energy matrix, the wellbeing of other people? No one.
So why on earth have Porsche gone to considerable lengths to make what is, technologically speaking, a truly awesome plug-in hybrid?
Here's a few clues.
In the next five years or so, most major European cities will have central 'zero emissions zones' meaning that no vehicle with a running internal combustion engine will be allowed in.
You charge your Panamera at your enormous home, hammer it down the Autobahn at 160 mph and when you reach the Stuttgart zero emission sign, press one of the many buttons switching to 'e-power' and complete your journey without the four monster exhaust pipes belching anything.
Currently in the UK this car pays zero road tax and zero congestion charge, yes, that's right; a £90,000, 3 litre, 160 mph supercar car that gets 40 mpg at best pays no road tax or congestion charge.
If I had a case, I'd rest it.
The Panamera I sat in was indeed a plug in hybrid.
Porsche goes electric
It has a 9kWh battery pack taking up a bit of space in the boot, a 95 horsepower electric motor built into the traditional drivetrain between the 3-litre, 6 cylinder petrol engine and the 8 speed twin clutch ultra smooth gearbox.
The only thing differentiating it from the standard Panamera S is the green edged lettering on the name badge and the green brake callipers visible through the butch alloy spokes of the massive tyres.
Okay, that and the discreet charge port located on the opposite side to the fossil input tunnel.
The main thing I learned after spending a couple of days with this super high end sports car is I now feel the need to test drive the pure gas guzzling model. I simply have nothing to compare the E-hybrid version to.
I regularly drive a plug in Prius, in terms of buttons it doesn't come close, in terms of speed, forget it, but in terms of fuel economy, it makes a bit of a mockery of this ultra hybrid for the 0.1 per cent.
You can plug the Panamera into a charger and fill the battery in about three hours. I did this in a car park using the very unusual bulky transformer and lead that comes with the car.
As with all plug in hybrids you don't have to do this. You can just fill the tank and drive it. When I received the car it has a fairly empty tank, so £84 later, it was full.
Again I had no context, £84 would fill my Prius tank twice giving me a total range of over 1,200 miles, I had no idea how far the Panamera would travel.
Early the next morning I set off to drive from central London to Donington Park race circuit outside Derby, a journey of 115 miles.
As advertised, the first 20 miles were easily accomplished on pure electric power.
The car is incredibly easy to drive, smooth, quiet and, considering the size and weight, very swift. When I pulled on to the M1 at Edgware, the car had no problem achieving motorway speeds.
I'll rephrase that as I'm someone used to driving my Nissan LEAF in the slow lane behind a truck. The Panamera has no problem breaking motorway speed limits regardless of the motive power, yes, it's a Porsche; it goes like stink.
When the six cylinder engine started up there was barely a murmur, I noticed the car starting to gently go through it's prodigious collection of gears until I was cruising along at a speed that won't be revealed, in 8th gear.
I don't know why I'm being so coy about the speed as needless to say I was constantly being overtaken by black BMWs and white vans with pipes on the roof.
But owning a car that can reach 160 miles an hour anywhere other than Germany is a bit baffling, driving on the M1 early on a Thursday morning surrounded by dense traffic cameras made it all seem a bit unnecessary.
Greening up the beast
As this German built monster chewed up the miles with barely a murmur, I watched the fuel consumption drop from 99.9 mpg to 43. You could only get as low as 43 mpg in my Prius if you took it on a track and hammered the hell out of it, but the Panamera is bigger, heavier and faster.
By the time I got back to London, after a total of 230 odd miles, the dash was telling me I'd managed 39.3 mpg.
I don't know if this is good for a Porsche, what sort of mpg do you get in the standard Porsche Panamera S? I've no idea but I suspect it's a lot worse [ed-at best a combustion-only Panamera S is rated as achieving 44.8mpg on a combined cycle]. I'm aware this is a silly question, who buys a car like this and worries about fuel consumption, the global energy matrix, the wellbeing of other people? No one.
So why on earth have Porsche gone to considerable lengths to make what is, technologically speaking, a truly awesome plug-in hybrid?
Here's a few clues.
In the next five years or so, most major European cities will have central 'zero emissions zones' meaning that no vehicle with a running internal combustion engine will be allowed in.
You charge your Panamera at your enormous home, hammer it down the Autobahn at 160 mph and when you reach the Stuttgart zero emission sign, press one of the many buttons switching to 'e-power' and complete your journey without the four monster exhaust pipes belching anything.
Currently in the UK this car pays zero road tax and zero congestion charge, yes, that's right; a £90,000, 3 litre, 160 mph supercar car that gets 40 mpg at best pays no road tax or congestion charge.
If I had a case, I'd rest it.
