Porsche 918 enters next production phase

The development of the Porsche 918 Spyder has moved into the next stage, which will see the 918 start clocking in the kilometres. The goals are set high, Porsche is expecting a lot from this car for good reason.

The Stuttgart-based car company has billed the 918 Spyder to be a super sports plug-in hybrid car. The car uses two drivetrains to deliver gut-punching acceleration – a standard petrol engine and electric motors.

In total, the 918 generates a combined horsepower of 770 hp and only burns three litres of petrol for every 100 km. The heart of the car is a 4.6 litre V8 mid-engine with dry-sump lubrication that is said to produce more than 570 hp.

The engine is partnered with two electrical motor and decoupler units – the hybrid module moves the rear and one more on the front axle. The power figures are rated at about 90kW and 80 kW respectively. The car regenerates electricity from the hybrid brake system and banks it into the lithium-ion battery. The battery has a 6.8 kWh capacity (BOL nominal) with 202 kW maximum power and mains-compatible plug-in charger.

The electrical juices alone can move the car to about 150 km/h. It hits a top speed of 325 km/h with both all cylinders and motors on full chat. And it only takes the 918 3.0 seconds to complete the 0-100 km/h sprint.

While it looks good on paper, the trick is to get all three to work together. In this stage, the focus will mainly be on the interplay between the different drivetrains and the development of the software to get the most out of Porsche’s newest.

The 918 Spyder will go into production in September 2013 and the first customers will get their cars before the end of 2013.

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