In my 2008 Road & Track Truck Buyer's Guide, they have a blurb about Porche's upcoming Cayenne hybrid. Some notes I found very interesting: 288V 240-cell NiMH battery pack weighs 152 lbs. and is warrantied for the life of the vehicle (!) 34-kW motor (210 lb-ft) can propel the Cayenne up to 75 MPH on electricity alone So Porsche will be the first manufacturer to warranty a battery pack forever, and the first manufacturer to sell a vehicle capable of cruising at highway speeds without engaging the ICE. It is due "by 2010" according to the article and will probably cost $50K (my guess - base Cayenne is $43K), but hopefully their progressive ideas will catch on with other automakers. Seems with a bigger plug-in battery pack you could eliminate the need for the ICE altogether.
Remind me about this in 2011 and we'll talk. There are a lot of "due out in . . ." articles these days. Talk and promise don't pay the bills any more than they reduce pollution. Show me the hybrid.
I thought Porche couldn't be bothered with being green cause their customers can afford gas at any price.... Or they are just going to use the hybrid system to make the vehicle faster and more powerful WITHOUT cutting the consumption. Or give their customers a little "look at me" green cloak to wear while still keeping the air conditioners going in every room of their house in Malibu. Hypocrites. [PS Somebody throw me some sugar please]:mmph:
With the Turbo costing over $90,000 I have a feeling that this new tech Porsche will be a bit more than $50,000. We'll see.
34kw is about 45hp. A Cayenne weighs 5000+lbs. 45hp may be enough power to maintain highway speeds, but it isn't enough to accelerate a Cayenne to those speeds, at least not at a rate that most drivers would find acceptable.
"Lifetime" warranties are not always what they appear to be: Oftentimes they are not transferable, so they are good while the original owner owns the car. Since few people keep a car until it's junk, you want to read the fine print on the warranty. And since this "warranty" doesn't actually exist yet, because the car does not exist, it's awfully soon to tout this as the first lifetime warranty on a battery. Most new-car buyers do not want very old cars. That's why they buy new cars. After 3 or 4 years, they trade the car off. The battery in the Prius lasts the life of the car. Isn't that better than a warranty where you have to prove the failure was not your fault?
My guess is that the warranty is NOT transferable and knowing that most Porsches are leased, that means in reality, Porsche is providing a 3 or 4 year warranty. Oh it's gonna be more powerful than the stock one (probably less than the Turbo version though). You know it will be.
