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Porsche just showed their Cayenne Hybrid at the 2007 LA Auto Show. Porsche, who is hoping to decrease fuel consumption by about 25%, specifically in city traffic, is aiming to get 24 miles per gallon from the Cayenne Hybrid and hopes to push it up to 26-mpg in the near future.
The Cayenne Hybrid will feature a full-hybrid design where the hybrid module (clutch and electric motor) is position between the combustion engine and the transmission rather than having the the hybrid drivetrain branching output along various lines and in various directions via a planetary gearset. The in-line configuration of the hybrid components are more compatible within the existing Cayenne platform and the system testing proved that this setup was more fuel efficient.
The Hybrid Manager coordinates the car’s three main components: the combustion engine, the electric motor, and the battery. The Hybrid Manager oversees some 20,000 data parameters compared to only 6,000 data parameters for a conventional engine.
The Cayenne Hybrid designed unique features to operate on electric power to decrease the fuel consumption in areas like power steering, the vacuum pump for the brakes, and the air conditioning. Technical components, such as the oil pump in the Cayenne’s automatic transmission, have been replaced by electrically powered units. The Cayenne Hybrid’s electro-hydraulic steering is the first for vehicles of its kind and will ensure that the Cayenne Hybrid will drive like a Porsche with predictable and safe handling characteristics and the agility that is expected of a Porsche SUV.
Porsche plans to introduce similar hybrid technology in a version of its Panamera four-door Gran Turismo. The Panamera will debut in 2009 with a hybrid version to follow.
To Discuss Porsche’s Hybrid: The Porsche Cayenne Forum
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