While the production range aims for 80% of electrified vehicles in 2030, Porsche can no longer do without cleaner energies for competition. Two avenues of electrification were then presented to us at the Porsche Experience Center in Franciacorta, Italy, at the Next Level ePerformance event, at which we notably discovered the next electric Macan.
Electrification is not new to Porsche. Or rather from 1898, with the first Porsche in the world! The series offensive was launched in 2010, with the Cayenne S Hybrid, the concept car for the future 918 Spyder supercar and… the brand’s first hybrid competition car: the 911 GT3 R Hybrid. An ever-close link between production and competition, then reinforced with the 919 endurance hybrid, which won Le Mans three times in 2015, 2016 and 2017. And what about 100% electric? 2019 and Formula E!
A more powerful, light and efficient 99X Electric Gen3
Porsche recently presented here in Franciacorta, the third evolution of its electric formula: the 99X Electric Gen3 which will be able to compete for the 2023 season of the championship, from January 14.
Gen2 ..
Gen 3 and its much sharper look
The second generation brought the main change to stop changing single-seaters at mid-race and a greater proximity with the series; reduced weight and better autonomy. A more sensible reasoning, while it is illusory to change your Porsche Taycan once the battery is empty, for another full battery car! Like the series, the first generation was really limited by its battery, while later development work focused on energy density, battery capacity, as well as improving the running gear.
This third generation sees a lighter, smaller and more powerful car. Enough to allow more agility and efficiency, by simple physical laws.
The car then loses about 20 cm, for 5.02 m long, and 10 cm less in width, at 1.70 m. The weight gain is particularly localized at the level of the battery and the rear part; it is expected to be under 850 kg, driver included, a gain of more than 50 kg. Enough to allow optimized rolling resistance and better cornering efficiency. The battery then weighs 285 kg for 38.5 kWh of useful capacity. The single-seater now goes to four-wheel drive, with a 250 kWh electric motor at the front and 350 kWh for the rear. However, if the rear engine has gained 100 kW compared to the second version, the front engine will only be used for regeneration; enough to be able to reach 600 kW of cumulative energy recovery (compared to 250 kW previously)! This energy recovery of the two front and rear axles is controlled “by wire”, without a mechanical link, via an additional braking system by friction on the front axle. The single-seater also accepts a load of 600 kW between two rounds, i.e. twice the power delivered for the moment on the infrastructures of everyday life.
The overall idea of this third generation is to combine better energy recovery and increased recharging power, to allow for a reduced battery capacity and thus save weight, optimize behavior and sharpen times!
The rear motor provides 300 kW in Race mode and 350 kW (476 hp) in “Attack” mode, which can be activated temporarily, in certain well-defined areas outside of the optimal trajectory. Certain events on the 2023 calendar will impose a mandatory pit stop of 30 seconds for a recharge of up to 4 kWh via 600 kW chargers. The activation of the mode can then then take place twice, then.
100 km/h is then reached in just 2.8 seconds. Porsche estimates at 40% the percentage of energy recovered during braking during a race. The engine’s energy efficiency is then estimated at 95% compared to 40% for a conventional heat engine.
To satisfy the circular economy which is much talked about in these times, Hankook tires are made of more than a quarter of rubber and recycled fibers. The tires will be recycled after the races, as will the lithium-ion battery cells, reused or recycled at the end of the season. The carbon fiber of the structure of the car comes from those of second generation for a gain of 10% of the carbon footprint during their construction. A more sustainable strategy aligned with that of the brand’s factories, aiming for CO2 neutrality, monitoring the use of water, reducing the use of solvents for painting, ecologically optimizing its logistics flows, and ever greater use of recycled materials. Sustainability, from factories to competition!
Porsche Motorsport finally showed us the complexity of their new, lighter, more efficient and more powerful single-seater, given the number of systems to manage, and to know how to manage the rapid analysis of data, performance indicators and problems to be solved. Thanks to a reduced time to obtain parts, the team was able to test and learn more about the new characteristics of the car, in particular in energy recovery and testing of new tires. We wish the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E team the best success, and in particular the drivers Antonio Félix de Costa and Pascal Wehrlein, for the coming season.
718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance: the future of the Carrera Cup?
It was the highlight of this event: having the chance to benefit from a track baptism in a 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance! Kesako? It is in fact the prototype for Porsche Performance testing the future of the brand’s one-make races, the best known of which is the Carrera Cup, certainly based on the big sister 911. But it is also the link between the Current thermal Cayman and its announced 100% electric replacement, like the Macan. But this next Cayman was entitled to a trailer with the Mission R showcar! “Our” GT4 ePerformance then uses the technical architecture of the concept.
And as a trailer should make you salivate, the Mission R allowed it both by its very exclusive design, which should be mostly taken over by the production Cayman, and by the specifications of the technical sheet: the announced power can climb up to 1088 hp! The car recovers the platform of the 718 GT4 Clubsport, the track evolution of the standard GT4. The Cayman then becomes four-wheel drive, with two permanent magnet synchronous motors each guiding an axle. Porsche has developed a system for cooling the engines and the battery pack with oil, to allow not only this “Qualifying” mode of 1088 hp, but also to have 612 hp available for 30 minutes, the duration of a round of Carrera Cup. The full potential of the battery cells is therefore fully exploitable over the desired duration. finished on derating thermal, protecting the components by lowering their performance, when an excessive increase in their operating temperature would threaten their lifespan. This reminds us of the importance of cooling when combining electrification and competition. Something to remind us of a certain Alpine hybrid of 600 hp…
The architecture is then not 800 V as on a Taycan, but 900 V! With an admissible charging power of 340 kW via large “PowerBoxes”, the 80 kWh battery can be recharged from 5 to 80% in 15 minutes.
The design of the car, signed by the Porsche style team of Grant Larsson, leaves no doubt about its claims! Wider by 14 cm than a GT4 Clubsport, its body is made up in particular of composite natural fibers and recycled carbon fibers. Sustainability is again largely at the heart of the project here. This is also the case for the Michelin tires nestled in the wide hips of the car, of which 53% of the components come from recycled materials: there is in particular recycled rubber from old tires, as well as materials made from orange peel, lemon, sunflower oil, pine resin and scrap metal. A sustainability that is also close to the heart of Michelin, with an ambition to use 40% recycled materials at group level by 2030 and aiming to equip 100% of tires with them by 2050.
The objective of this car is to test the reactions of an electric car with performance and maximum speed comparable to that of a 911 GT3 Cup of the latest generation 992, for a possible dedicated program of customer competition, in the four corners of the globe. . The big official presentation took place at the famous Goodwood Festival of Speed, where the car set the second fastest time in the emblematic hill climb! Followed by the site of the Porsche factory in Leipzig, which celebrated its 20th anniversary at the end of August. After the 2022 European tour, the car will leave for North America in 2023, to finish its world tour in the Asia-Pacific region in mid-2024.
Note that in the very serious sustainable approach of Porsche, the transport of the two prototype cars is only done by boat, train or truck. These test sessions on various circuits around the world are then an opportunity to gather the opinions and impressions of partners and the media (of which we were lucky to be part!) and also to discuss the expectations of a very diverse in terms of future electrified racing formats.
On track !
Talking about such a car on a theoretical level is good, driving it is better! We then go to the locker room, put on a Porsche Motorsport suit, the helmet, the HANS to better maintain the head and the neck… there will be sport! Vibe. In the absence of a semblance of physical preparation to drive the beast, we will be entitled to our mini gymnastics session: training to jump out of the car “feet together” so as not to be both in contact with the car and the ground, in the event of an incident and the need to evacuate the vehicle urgently if the on-board computer and the appropriate warning light went to scarlet red, overheating! A standard precaution to be able, in the event of an ultimate incident, to evacuate the vehicle and move away as quickly as possible. Putting out an electric vehicle fire is indeed a challenge. A safety instruction, such as those we hear before taking off in an airliner, and precisely, starting the car has an aeronautical flavor by the noise it gives off!
Once installed on board, here we are harnessed and tight in the passenger bucket, our feet slightly raised by one of the battery components, when our young Swiss driver Simona de Silvestro, Porsche driver since 2019, and reserve driver for the Formula-E, is in infinite concentration. At the end of the pit straight at the end of the limited speed, the thrust is incredible. You have to have a strong heart, at the risk of losing consciousness: yours truly has not gone far, and this is the feeling shared by my dear French colleagues of the day. The first seconds are the most impressive, the time to acclimatize to the forces of acceleration of the car, as one could do from the first two-stroke kart a little sharpened.. Recall the machine, as formidable as it is , that it is the pilot who keeps it and must keep the controls! Surprisingly, the braking is less impressive, even if we do not doubt for a moment the interest of the harnesses. To believe, moreover, that the braking applied is less degressive (strong support at the beginning to lock the front axle, then gradually release the brakes to keep directional power before the rope) than what we are used to driving circuit. Accelerations more surprising than braking, the link with the rolling of the production Porsche Taycan GTS, tested here, is obvious. Despite everything, the car shows foolproof cornering agility, optimal body support and seems to be a real treat to drive with explosive performance in this “qualifying” mode, seemingly uninterrupted, which is rather rare in electric. Benefits of general oil cooling.
A short, intense and joyful experience as a passenger for what is the trailer of a hypothetical electric one-design championship at Porsche, in the years to come.
Read also
Porsche Taycan propulsion test: what is Porsche’s electric entry-level worth?
While the production range aims for 80% of electrified vehicles in 2030, Porsche can no longer do without cleaner energies for competition. Two avenues of electrification were then presented to us at the Porsche Experience Center in Franciacorta, Italy, at the Next Level ePerformance event, at which we notably discovered the next electric Macan.
Electrification is not new to Porsche. Or rather from 1898, with the first Porsche in the world! The series offensive was launched in 2010, with the Cayenne S Hybrid, the concept car for the future 918 Spyder supercar and… the brand’s first hybrid competition car: the 911 GT3 R Hybrid. An ever-close link between production and competition, then reinforced with the 919 endurance hybrid, which won Le Mans three times in 2015, 2016 and 2017. And what about 100% electric? 2019 and Formula E!
A more powerful, light and efficient 99X Electric Gen3
Porsche recently presented here in Franciacorta, the third evolution of its electric formula: the 99X Electric Gen3 which will be able to compete for the 2023 season of the championship, from January 14.
Gen2 ..
Gen 3 and its much sharper look
The second generation brought the main change to stop changing single-seaters at mid-race and a greater proximity with the series; reduced weight and better autonomy. A more sensible reasoning, while it is illusory to change your Porsche Taycan once the battery is empty, for another full battery car! Like the series, the first generation was really limited by its battery, while later development work focused on energy density, battery capacity, as well as improving the running gear.
This third generation sees a lighter, smaller and more powerful car. Enough to allow more agility and efficiency, by simple physical laws.
The car then loses about 20 cm, for 5.02 m long, and 10 cm less in width, at 1.70 m. The weight gain is particularly localized at the level of the battery and the rear part; it is expected to be under 850 kg, driver included, a gain of more than 50 kg. Enough to allow optimized rolling resistance and better cornering efficiency. The battery then weighs 285 kg for 38.5 kWh of useful capacity. The single-seater now goes to four-wheel drive, with a 250 kWh electric motor at the front and 350 kWh for the rear. However, if the rear engine has gained 100 kW compared to the second version, the front engine will only be used for regeneration; enough to be able to reach 600 kW of cumulative energy recovery (compared to 250 kW previously)! This energy recovery of the two front and rear axles is controlled “by wire”, without a mechanical link, via an additional braking system by friction on the front axle. The single-seater also accepts a load of 600 kW between two rounds, i.e. twice the power delivered for the moment on the infrastructures of everyday life.
The overall idea of this third generation is to combine better energy recovery and increased recharging power, to allow for a reduced battery capacity and thus save weight, optimize behavior and sharpen times!
The rear motor provides 300 kW in Race mode and 350 kW (476 hp) in “Attack” mode, which can be activated temporarily, in certain well-defined areas outside of the optimal trajectory. Certain events on the 2023 calendar will impose a mandatory pit stop of 30 seconds for a recharge of up to 4 kWh via 600 kW chargers. The activation of the mode can then then take place twice, then.
100 km/h is then reached in just 2.8 seconds. Porsche estimates at 40% the percentage of energy recovered during braking during a race. The engine’s energy efficiency is then estimated at 95% compared to 40% for a conventional heat engine.
To satisfy the circular economy which is much talked about in these times, Hankook tires are made of more than a quarter of rubber and recycled fibers. The tires will be recycled after the races, as will the lithium-ion battery cells, reused or recycled at the end of the season. The carbon fiber of the structure of the car comes from those of second generation for a gain of 10% of the carbon footprint during their construction. A more sustainable strategy aligned with that of the brand’s factories, aiming for CO2 neutrality, monitoring the use of water, reducing the use of solvents for painting, ecologically optimizing its logistics flows, and ever greater use of recycled materials. Sustainability, from factories to competition!
Porsche Motorsport finally showed us the complexity of their new, lighter, more efficient and more powerful single-seater, given the number of systems to manage, and to know how to manage the rapid analysis of data, performance indicators and problems to be solved. Thanks to a reduced time to obtain parts, the team was able to test and learn more about the new characteristics of the car, in particular in energy recovery and testing of new tires. We wish the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E team the best success, and in particular the drivers Antonio Félix de Costa and Pascal Wehrlein, for the coming season.
718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance: the future of the Carrera Cup?
It was the highlight of this event: having the chance to benefit from a track baptism in a 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance! Kesako? It is in fact the prototype for Porsche Performance testing the future of the brand’s one-make races, the best known of which is the Carrera Cup, certainly based on the big sister 911. But it is also the link between the Current thermal Cayman and its announced 100% electric replacement, like the Macan. But this next Cayman was entitled to a trailer with the Mission R showcar! “Our” GT4 ePerformance then uses the technical architecture of the concept.
And as a trailer should make you salivate, the Mission R allowed it both by its very exclusive design, which should be mostly taken over by the production Cayman, and by the specifications of the technical sheet: the announced power can climb up to 1088 hp! The car recovers the platform of the 718 GT4 Clubsport, the track evolution of the standard GT4. The Cayman then becomes four-wheel drive, with two permanent magnet synchronous motors each guiding an axle. Porsche has developed a system for cooling the engines and the battery pack with oil, to allow not only this “Qualifying” mode of 1088 hp, but also to have 612 hp available for 30 minutes, the duration of a round of Carrera Cup. The full potential of the battery cells is therefore fully exploitable over the desired duration. finished on derating thermal, protecting the components by lowering their performance, when an excessive increase in their operating temperature would threaten their lifespan. This reminds us of the importance of cooling when combining electrification and competition. Something to remind us of a certain Alpine hybrid of 600 hp…
The architecture is then not 800 V as on a Taycan, but 900 V! With an admissible charging power of 340 kW via large “PowerBoxes”, the 80 kWh battery can be recharged from 5 to 80% in 15 minutes.
The design of the car, signed by the Porsche style team of Grant Larsson, leaves no doubt about its claims! Wider by 14 cm than a GT4 Clubsport, its body is made up in particular of composite natural fibers and recycled carbon fibers. Sustainability is again largely at the heart of the project here. This is also the case for the Michelin tires nestled in the wide hips of the car, of which 53% of the components come from recycled materials: there is in particular recycled rubber from old tires, as well as materials made from orange peel, lemon, sunflower oil, pine resin and scrap metal. A sustainability that is also close to the heart of Michelin, with an ambition to use 40% recycled materials at group level by 2030 and aiming to equip 100% of tires with them by 2050.
The objective of this car is to test the reactions of an electric car with performance and maximum speed comparable to that of a 911 GT3 Cup of the latest generation 992, for a possible dedicated program of customer competition, in the four corners of the globe. . The big official presentation took place at the famous Goodwood Festival of Speed, where the car set the second fastest time in the emblematic hill climb! Followed by the site of the Porsche factory in Leipzig, which celebrated its 20th anniversary at the end of August. After the 2022 European tour, the car will leave for North America in 2023, to finish its world tour in the Asia-Pacific region in mid-2024.
Note that in the very serious sustainable approach of Porsche, the transport of the two prototype cars is only done by boat, train or truck. These test sessions on various circuits around the world are then an opportunity to gather the opinions and impressions of partners and the media (of which we were lucky to be part!) and also to discuss the expectations of a very diverse in terms of future electrified racing formats.
On track !
Talking about such a car on a theoretical level is good, driving it is better! We then go to the locker room, put on a Porsche Motorsport suit, the helmet, the HANS to better maintain the head and the neck… there will be sport! Vibe. In the absence of a semblance of physical preparation to drive the beast, we will be entitled to our mini gymnastics session: training to jump out of the car “feet together” so as not to be both in contact with the car and the ground, in the event of an incident and the need to evacuate the vehicle urgently if the on-board computer and the appropriate warning light went to scarlet red, overheating! A standard precaution to be able, in the event of an ultimate incident, to evacuate the vehicle and move away as quickly as possible. Putting out an electric vehicle fire is indeed a challenge. A safety instruction, such as those we hear before taking off in an airliner, and precisely, starting the car has an aeronautical flavor by the noise it gives off!
Once installed on board, here we are harnessed and tight in the passenger bucket, our feet slightly raised by one of the battery components, when our young Swiss driver Simona de Silvestro, Porsche driver since 2019, and reserve driver for the Formula-E, is in infinite concentration. At the end of the pit straight at the end of the limited speed, the thrust is incredible. You have to have a strong heart, at the risk of losing consciousness: yours truly has not gone far, and this is the feeling shared by my dear French colleagues of the day. The first seconds are the most impressive, the time to acclimatize to the forces of acceleration of the car, as one could do from the first two-stroke kart a little sharpened.. Recall the machine, as formidable as it is , that it is the pilot who keeps it and must keep the controls! Surprisingly, the braking is less impressive, even if we do not doubt for a moment the interest of the harnesses. To believe, moreover, that the braking applied is less degressive (strong support at the beginning to lock the front axle, then gradually release the brakes to keep directional power before the rope) than what we are used to driving circuit. Accelerations more surprising than braking, the link with the rolling of the production Porsche Taycan GTS, tested here, is obvious. Despite everything, the car shows foolproof cornering agility, optimal body support and seems to be a real treat to drive with explosive performance in this “qualifying” mode, seemingly uninterrupted, which is rather rare in electric. Benefits of general oil cooling.
A short, intense and joyful experience as a passenger for what is the trailer of a hypothetical electric one-design championship at Porsche, in the years to come.
Read also
Porsche Taycan propulsion test: what is Porsche’s electric entry-level worth?
