EV tech gives designers more freedom, so what does that mean for the most iconic car of them all?
by Robert Moore, onElectric sports cars aren’t exactly a thing yet. Sure, you’ve got the currently non-existent Tesla Roadster 2.0 and plenty of hypercars, but the closest we have to a genuine sports car is the Tesla Model S Plaid or the Porsche Taycan. Transitioning the everyday family car or even SUVs to all-electric drive is easy enough – relatively speaking – but when it comes to sports cars, things like weight and driving dynamics are just as important as power. Having too much of one and not enough of the other isn’t an acceptable compromise, and this is why we don’t have an Electric Porsche 911. Eventually, however, it’ll be possible, and when it is, the freedom that comes with EV tech could drastically change the iconic 911 forever.
It Will Be Easier to Design An Electric Porsche 911
Like it or not, the future of all automotive brands is, likely, electric. All automakers know this, and that’s why we have cars like the Porsche Taycan. There’s even word that an electric Porsche 718 Concept is right around the corner, and while it’ll have its own unique chassis, it’ll retain the same mid-engine driving dynamic that makes it so special. The risk of losing this dynamic is precisely why Porsche hasn’t even been able to move the 911 into hybrid territory, but knowing that Porsche can build an uncompromised 718 EV makes the inevitability that the Porsche 911 will be an EV a little easier to accept.
Make no mistake, Porsche isn’t in a hurry to electrify the 911, and Frank-Steggen Walliser – the man in charge of Porsche’s sports car line – told the world back in 2020 that the 911 would be the last Porsche to go electric. When it does go electric, however, you can bet that it – like the future 718 EV – will ride on a bespoke chassis, and this alone could mean that the 911 will look radically different from what it does today. Oddly enough, Porsche Design Chief, Michael Mauer, has even admitted that he has an idea of what an electric 911 could look like. Not only that, but he hinted that it could be designed entirely from scratch, eliminating the need to deal with packaging issues that come with trying to make the current 911 platform capable of supporting an EV powertrain:
“I’m part of the group that went from air-cooling to water-cooling, and now we have turbocharged engines. Maybe an electric 911 is another story, but purely from a design standpoint, an electric 911 is even easier in the future.”
So, imagine for a moment what an electric evolution of the Porsche 911 could be. Perhaps it’ll be more like a production version of the Porsche Mission R. Or perhaps it’ll adopt an even wilder design. You could argue that it would be a downright dirty shame, but things didn’t work out so bad when Chevy turned the Corvette into a poor man’s mid-engined supercar. Will Porsche be able to drastically change the 911 without pissing people off?
No – purists will never accept losing the flat-six and the emotion that comes with it, even if the electric powertrain and driving dynamics have been improved. But, younger generations are beyond getting onboard with electrification, and Porsche can’t ignore the concept that its success in the future will depend on them. And, while it sucks to say, most of the younger generations won’t care so much about the 911’s iconic design. Everything changes eventually, and the Porsche 911 will too.
Source: Autocar
