Porsche put out a press release earlier this week to announce that its 918 Spyder hybrid is officially on sale now.
Capable of 94 mpg, it'll reportedly do 0-62 in 3.2 seconds. ...but not at the same time.
It has both a high-revving V8 engine and two electric motors powered by a lithium battery. When the two work together you clear 700 hp (500 hp for the V8, 218 hp for the motors). On the battery alone, you get 16 miles of wonderful fuel efficiency (though I'm skeptical that even at idle a 4+ liter V8 can get 94 mpg). And luckily, even if you run out of both gas and battery, even at a standstill the thing still looks like it's going a million miles an hour (actual advertised top speed is 199 mph, 94 mph on just the electric motors).
As I'm understanding it, there's some way to switch between the ICE and the battery or use them in combination, so that's how it has these odd, seemingly contradictory mpg/performance stats.
They're only going to make 918 of them, so get your $845,000 together quick before someone else drives away in yours.
(As you might imagine, it sounds awesome, but skip ahead to 3:57 for a listen to what it sounds like on electric power. Is that the sound of traffic noise of the future?)
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unfortunatly when it comes to foreign policy , now a day is very hard to ditinguisg msnbc with fox new. both promoting war and supporting bush doctrine.
have we lost our mind
You'd think they'd be true enough to the car's name to make those hubcaps have eight spoke-like things rather than nine.
All for under a million! Wow!
I recall Maddow said something on Tuesday's show last week about geting a new car since her current one is rusting... ? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/42100927#42100927
I would buy it but it doesn't have enough room for the groceries.
I imagine there are only 917 available. Leno, no doubt, already has his order in
Why is it so noisy on battery? The Prius is silent on battery, you can't even tell the car is on?
well it is a sports car, so they took the 'ROOM!' out of 'VVROOM!' and left you with 'VVVV...'. does Prius have 200 hp to put you up to 94mph?
Ooh, The Rachel Maddow / Top Gear UK (original is best) cross over!
I wish
The groceries I'm sure that you are donating to needy families in the USA I'm sure! I know your type...Rev it up for zero.
The groceries I'm sure that you are donating to needy families in the USA? I know your type...Rev it up for zero.
ha; the ad preceeding the YouTube video was for a VW vehicle.
however, the video was only 1m 7s long, so "skip ahead to 3:57"??
maybe this was the intended video? in it, if that it is the sound of the electric motor (there's LOTS of extraneous noise mind you) i don't think it's all that bad; it's quiet enough to make a real difference, but loud enough that you know it's there. also, it is a sports car, so making a bit of engine noise is is part and parcel, especially if it gets you up to 94mph.
what i wasn't taken by was 6 guys pushing it out of park and down the road before it was obvious it was going to be an automobile.
Urg, yes, I used the wrong link. Thanks.
nice car.
today we traded in our '08 Prius for a new '11. i prefer function over form. not to say if i had $850000 i wouldn't mind a porche toy in the garage.
Sounds very similar to GM's new VoltTech drive train, developed for the Chevy Volt but planned to be further developed and implemented in several other upcoming models.
Volt has a battery-driven electric motor as its main engine, but it's also got a smaller gas engine designed to recharge the battery once it runs out. However, once the patent process went through, the Volt team revealed further information: At speeds higher than something like 60mph, the gas engine actually helps directly drive the wheels. (People were upset about it because the initial claim had been that the gas engine was there only for range extension and never did anything else directly.)
Part of an automatic transmission is generally a "planetary gear" - a complex gear made up of smaller, different-sized gears. At high gear, the gas engine (in addition to the electric one) connects to the planetary gear and helps turn the drive shaft.
Like I said, I expect this uses a similar set-up. (Though with more user control in when the different motors are engaged.) Except that the Volt is smaller and cheaper... and it also gets about 40 miles on battery alone, rather than 16.
On the other hand, it does not look nearly that cool. And, of course, less sporty though the electric motor does have a higher-torque "sport mode," no one would mistake it for a sports car.
i'm gonna break my piggy bank and see how much i got!
Maybe Trump can use it as an election vehicle and plaster it with Republican slogans,? Truth Express, or Sucks to be you! Tax Breaks for the Rich!
I'm sure all the overpaid teachers out there will be lining up to buy one!
Looks good, but can it fly?
yes! it's 2011; we have submarinecars (and boatjails) so where are the flying cars?!
Well, there's The Transition, which sort of qualifies. (Really, though, it's more of a ground-drivable airplane than a flying car.)
The Moller Skycar is much closer, conceptually, but who knows if or when it'll actually go into production, or what kind of license you'd need. How Stuff Works has an overview of that and a few others.
We're getting closer, anyway.
Moller's Skycar looks pretty cool (tho the glaring symmetrical clouds in the banner graphic quickly distracted me; yikes!), far better than the Transition. i think the flying car will have truly arrived with the first VTOL model (vertical take-off and landing).
Hadn't paid much attention to the banner, but that's kind of funny. I guess the intended background picture wasn't big enough, so they had to reflect it.
The Skycar is a VTOL vehicle, for the record. Just like the Osprey, its engines swivel.
Oh, and they say it gets 20 mpg... but I'm assuming that's at the 275mph cruising speed. Still, it burns ethanol rather than regular gas (which, come to think, might be harder to find when you need to refuel).
Thing is, besides a pilot's license, you'd need regular FAA clearance to get anywhere: file a flight plan, take off and land at an airport, wait for your turn on the runway, etc. *sigh* Reality is no fun.
oops, my bad; i didn't really digest the whole Skycar capabilities. i was too distracted by the clouds; LOL!
well it's good that it's VTOL; that's the start, like i said, but you're right: reality is no fun so long as it's required to file plans, use the airport, etc. but it seems even if that wasn't the case below a certain altitude, there has to be some sort of system in place to prevent collisions, or some sort of what i'm going to coin right now as either aetherstructure, aerostructure*, or ultrastructure* - comparable to infrastructure - to guide traffic.
* - these words already exist, but not in that context, of course.