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Porsche goes green in style
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The Porsche Cayenne Hybrid won’t be available for sale until late 2009, but the prototype we tested seemed ready for the roads
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Well equipped Porsche has carried out several modifications to its SUV
In 1902, a company called Ludwig Lohner & Co made a vehicle that had an internal combustion engine and an electric motor and battery. The electric motors were found in each wheel hub and the four-cylinder petrol engine powered a generator that fe
d current to the wheel motors and the battery – this car was pretty much the first ever hybrid vehicle and back in the day, was designed by none other than Ferdinand Porsche. However, a common misconception is that the Toyota Prius is actually the first hybrid. This car actually was the first famous hybrid but the fact remains that Ferdinand Porsche was responsible for the first Hybrid.
All set
Now, a century after that creation, German car manufacturer Porsche, is working on a hybrid version of their Cayenne model. Though the car will only go on sale late 2009, as far as we could tell, it felt good enough to go on sale now! The Cayenne Hybrid has a direct-injection 3.6-litre V6 petrol engine fitted to its base. The system used on Porsche is a parallel hybrid system which means that this system will be slotted into the car’s existing powertrain. The 34kw (46bhp) electric motor on the Cayenne Hybrid will be placed between the engine’s flywheel and the automatic transmission with a clutch in between that’s used to engage and disengage the electric motor. And, in the place where one would usually find the spare wheel, is a trough where one will now find a 240 cell nickel-metal hydride battery. This battery supplies 288 volts and is kept in a crash-proof structure and is kept cool by passing cabin air through it. The whole system is ruled by what Porsche calls the Hybrid Manager.
The Hybrid Manager is basically a super powerful ECU that requires 20,000 parameters unlike a more conventional engine management computer that only requires 6,000 parameters to control all the engine’s systems.
In order to ensure that the Cayenne Hybrid runs on its electric motor till at least 120kph before the internal combustion engine joins in, Porsche has carried out several modifications to its SUV. Some of these include fitting the automatic transmission with an electric pump, the Cayenne’s conventional engine-driven hydraulic pump has been replaced with an electro-hydraulic power steering, there’s an electrically-driven vacuum pump for the brake servo (with no running engine there’s no supply of vacuum from the inlet manifold) and even the air-conditioning compressor is electrically driven. These modifications were made as these parts would ordinarily be powered by the petrol engine.
Most car companies are trying to create products that are environmental-friendly in an attempt to cut global warming. Porsche too, will join the bandwagon with this hybrid. We wondered why this car that is good to go is not being made available until late 2009. Porsche justifies this wait claiming that by then, they would have refined the concept even further and get the Cayenne Hybrid to deliver 11kpl instead of the 10kpl it delivers at present. A year after the Cayenne Hybrid will go on sale, Porsche’s much-awaited Panamera saloon will be launched in 2010 and this car too, will come with Porsche’s hybrid system.
So far, no company has been able to gain a profit owing to their hybrid cars. However, Porsche being one of the most profitable carmakers in the world might just pull off a profit from its hybrid. And as far as price is concerned, they haven’t given out figures yet, but we’re sure that the luxury of going green in a Porsche won’t be cheap.
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
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Kochi
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