Plug-in Porsche electrifies
There have been hybrid Cayennes before, but the new S E-Hybrid is a version that you can plug in the wall and depending on your driving needs you might not need to top it up with fuel for months, writes Dave Moore .
THE concept of a hybrid Porsche is well established now, even on the racetrack where prototype race cars and the marque’s 918 coupes and convertibles demonstrate how useful electric power is in terms to adding to performance, as well as saving the planet.
In time, Porsche will add petrol-electric plug-in versions of its stock-in-trade 911, Boxster, and Cayman sports cars, so that, just like other German carmakers, it will have plug-in hybrid versions of every model it makes.
However, at the moment, the plug-in Cayenne S E-Hybrid SUV and the equally large Panamera S E-Hybrid luxury sedan make the most sense, with useful extended electric-only range and having big enough stickers to mostly absorb the extra cost of the E-Hybrid bits.
The previous Cayenne hybrid wasn’t a plug-in, so it was dependent on its petrol V6 power unit and re-directed braking and deceleration energy in order to keep the batteries charged. Now, you can plug-in your Cayenne at home and at work, and if your each-way commute is less than about 35km, and you use it for nothing else, you’ll find yourself forgetting the local pump-jockey’s first name, because you may not see him very often.
However, as well as the battery’s 10.8kWh potential, there’s the little matter of the other half of the 4x4’s powertrain equation, a super-flexible supercharged 24 valve 3.0-litre V6, which harbours 245kW and 440Nm on its own, meaning there’s 306kW and 590Nm when the electric power is helping out. When the V6 conspires with its electric other half, which will occur when you mash your right foot and the throttle pedal into the carpet – and you surely, will, this is a Porsche after all – the Cayenne will whisk very quietly up to 100kmh in well under six-seconds (we managed 5.5 seconds).
That’s pretty good going when you understand that the weight penalty for going hybrid – what with batteries, extra cooling ducts and fans, and other electrical componentry takes the Cayenne S E-Hybrid up to 2240kg unladen, which is more than 250kg up on a non-hybrid model. It’s still way lighter than previous pre-facelift V8 Cayennes however.
Driving the model in typical Porsche fashion (you’ll find it hard not to) will, of course, cut a big hole in its normal economy ratings, but even if you make a habit of engaging the V6 in that way, the Cayenne will manage family sedan-ish figures of around 7L/100km, which is way better than the old non-plug-in Cayenne hybrid ever managed – according to our notes.
Driven with low fuel consumption in mind, but still using the V6 engine as you will for longer journeys, the Cayenne S E-Hybrid can get about 3.5L/100km (about 82mpg in old money) and a frankly ridiculous 80g/km CO2 emissions rating according to the factory. I’ll have to take their word for that, for I seldom managed better than 4.3L/100km on short readouts, albeit with less practice and much lower economy driving skills than the factory drivers would have.
However, on my own drive to
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