Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid

As you know, on the automotive spectrum, Prius and Porsche are poles apart. For decades, one was the definitive high performance sports car brand from German, well-known for its great engineering and high-pitched level-six engines. The other is barely a decade old, the very image of the modern high-mileage hybrid. But now the poles are coming closer and the spectrum has warped. Porsche will introduce a Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid version of Porsche SUV in the end of 2010-though this hybrid’s about as far away from the earnest nerdiness of the Toyota Prius as any Porsche hybrid can get. In 2005 Porsche had first discussed the Porsche Cayenne hybrid-and in November 2007 the first functioning version appeared at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

The new Porsche Hybrid (2011 Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid) has a great performance, it will use a direct injected, supercharged Audi 3.0 liter V6 engine that can get 336 hp, paired with an eight speed automatic transmission. Between the two is mounted a 52 hp or 38 kw electric motor that puts out 221 lb-ft of torque, a full two-thirds as much as the engine itself does.

Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid: Sailing on Electricity

Porsche hybrid has a hydraulic clutch among the motor and the engine that disengages the engine so it can shut down under light loads. After that, the electric motor will takes up the load until the engine restarts. They call this feature as ‘sailing’—for the quiet sensation of speed using only electric power.

Like the other hybrids, Porsche hybrid electric motor also restarts the engine and recharges the battery pack. En suite into the former spare-tire well, Porsche Hybrid uses Sanyo nickel metal hybride cells – like the Ford Escape Hybrid and Ford Fusion Hybrid do. If you compare with Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive, this is a simpler and less costly system, but it comes with many problems, one being that the vehicle cannot use the engine to recharge the batteries while running on electric power at the same time.

Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid system is tuned to offer lots of electric assist at freeway speeds. This makes sense, since the heavy, tall SUV, and large are not an ideal urban car, and may use less time in city traffic than other hybrids.

Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid: Illegal All-Electric Speed!

The company says the Cayenne S Hybrid runs up to 1.2 miles in all-electric mode. More extremely, Porsche also says this Porsche Hybrid can run on electricity at speeds up to 86 mph-though that’s slightly deceiving, since it means the engine may shut down for a while at speeds that high, leaving the electric motor to propel the car. At rest, traveling on battery power at speeds higher than any legal US limit is quite an ‘achievement’ for a 5,000-pound SUV.

Porsche Hybrid claims 0 – 62 mph in 6.8 seconds with both the electric motor and the boosted engine providing power – on-road performance. The company also recorded 26 mpg on the European test cycle, though may be slightly lower on the United State. But even the estimated highway figure of 24 mpg would be a marked improvement over the 2008 Cayenne S figures of 19 highways and 13 city mpg.

Another articles by Johan Young you may interest in reading: BMW Vision, Best Selling Hybrid-4, Hybrid Pickup Trucks, Hybrid Car Rental, and Eco Driving.