EVERRATI 911 · RICCI’S GARAGE · CONCEPT
How do you electrify a modern classic without losing the magic that made it great? Just ask Everrati
We get behind the wheel of an electric Porsche 911 with 500bhp , plus Mark’s accidentally bought himself another Brabus SEL
“EVERRATI HASN’T USED THIS AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO SMOOTH OFF THE EDGES OF OLDER 911S”
“Everything we do is reversible,” promises Justin Lunny, the founder of Everrati. Clearly it’s not the first time he’s been asked how contentious it is surrendering a perfectly tidy Porsche 911 to the EV cause. “We’re updating them but we’re not ruining them. If somebody wishes we allow them to have their engine, package it up and put it in storage or a mancave. But if we achieve what we’ve set out to do, we’ll still make these cars engaging and fun. Though it’s a different experience by definition.”
The car you see here is the Everrati Signature. Not the company’s first fully electric 911, but the first that’s not a heavily hacked around development car. All (for now) will be based on the 964-generation of 911 from the late Eighties and early Nineties. You can buy a Pure, based on a narrow bodied 964, or a Signature – like this – with the punchier wide body and with much more customisation available.
The process is pretty simple. You either provide your own 964 or choose which shape you want – coupe, cabrio or Targa and narrow or wide body – then lasso Everrati’s chunky contacts book to source a fitting example. Handily, the only ‘must have’ is straight bodywork – everything else gets fixed or binned. The car you see here was a less desirable Tiptronic auto, for instance, perhaps quietening any cries of sacrilege.
Your car is then put on the scales – so that the engineers know how best to distribute power modules to replicate its weight distribution – before being stripped, restored and readied to subsume a reconditioned Tesla motor (but with
brand new batteries) where there used to be a flat-six petrol engine. You get 440bhp as standard but total outputs with the Performance Pack (fitted here) are 500bhp and 369lb ft – basically the same as a brand-new 992 GT3, just with less weight to shift. At around 1,350kg, it’s even lighter than the 964 Tiptronic it’s based upon. It’ll do 0–62mph in four seconds and its claimed range is 150 miles. Prices start at £250,000.
So, who’s spending brand new supercar money on a barely classic 911 with range akin to a Honda e? “I don’t think these are people who just want to get on the bandwagon,” says Justin. “They want to be embracing electricity and sustainability but in a way that’s unique and customised. They genuinely love cars; we will have succeeded if we get petrolheads to view this as a good idea. We get people who’ve had Teslas for 10 years and now want something to enjoy at the weekend.” Several are figures in the public eye, he says. It’ll be more credible than the celebrity Prius movement, that’s for sure.
Justin’s own weekend toy is a Ferrari 812 GTS, but his conscience is tugged at by kids terrified of climate change and he drives a Taycan every day. More interesting is that Everrati’s director of engineering Mike Kerr is a 964 nut. He’s been fettling his own for 20 years but is increasingly tempted by the sizeable performance jump from morphing it into an EV, the doubling of its power, while retaining its handling traits.
Yep, Everrati hasn’t used this as an opportunity to smooth off the infamous edges of older 911s. It’s retained them, with no electronic nannies to help keep its modern day GT3 power level in check. As standard, you get coilover suspension which
“THE SIGNATURE HAS TRADED ITS HEART BUT KEPT ITS SOUL”
Mike and co will tune to your tastes. Go for the Performance Pack and that’s upgraded to an electronically adjustable system with a dizzying amount of choice; former BTCC champion Tim Harvey has been part of the development team and when I’m offered his set-up – softer at the front, stiffer at the back – I say yes in order to appease my indecision. And so I can get on with driving the thing...
Which isn’t the work of a moment. Time in any 964 is a demonstration of how 911s may look broadly similar, but the evolution beneath the skin is vast and ongoing. The pedals feel as wildly offset as a Seventies supercar’s; I’m thankful there are only two to worry about. The steering is power assisted but barely. And there’s so much noise and hubbub despite the fact the powertrain has its finger pressed to its lips.
Electric powertrains have matured at the same time as interior tech and luxury, so we associate them with supremely hushed travel. But retrofit one to a car with 30-year-old cabin ambience and a visceral experience remains joyfully intact. There’s plenty going on to distract you from the lack of traditional boxer soundtrack. Ever-present NVH cancels out any urgent need for the active sound system that Everrati has developed, adjustable via a phone app to pipe some faux-flat-six chunter through a set of speakers. Rather like the reversibility of the powertrain swap, it’s a bit of a psychological safety net to help calm the nerves of those spending 250 big ones making the jump to electric. But I quickly turn it off.
With modern 911 power in a 1991 chassis (and no ESP on duty) it’s hardly like I need my senses heightening. Putting the power down isn’t scary – this is inherently a sorted chassis with modern, wide tyres – but with RWD and no helping hand this isn’t an EV where you get tucked into a corner and just mash the throttle, careering out at high speed bemoaning it’s all a bit one-dimensional. You’re aware there’s a lot that could outfox you here, just as there would be in a manual 964 with half the power channelled through skinnier tyres and more antiquated suspension. It’s traded its heart but kept its soul.
It’s exciting and occasionally breathtaking, communication pouring through each control and every millimetre of throttle or steering angle vividly influencing progress. Adjustable regen is built in, but while it’ll operate as a one-pedal car in traffic, the system backs right off at speed so you slow naturally into corners. Exactly what you want in a heavy rumped 911.
It’s deeply impressive. So much so that among it all I don’t once crave the extra challenge of perfecting manual downchanges. With acclimatisation, maybe I would. But Everrati is working on that too, its next project (a car almost certain to ignite the comments sections) due to feature augmented sound and simulated gearchanges as switchable features. It’s something Mike developed at a previous employer, replicating torque curves and power interruptions of a seven-speed transmission on an EV engineering buck.
‘The next project’ is already an Everrati catchphrase before a single Signature has been delivered. In-house powertrains will follow and several iconic classic cars percolate through off-the-record chats while – like at Lunaz Design – a blank cheque and a dream can get you something properly one-off. Someone’s even proffered a delivery mile Porsche 959 which Everrati has, good naturedly, declined to electrify. Like them or not, EV classics are here and only expanding in number. But it’s nice to know they’re in responsible hands, huh?