The Porsche 911's compact package has restricted the addition of plug-in hybrid tech, at least until batteries become smaller and lighter – yet it could still be insurmountable.
The Porsche 911's 'performance hybrid' system will be as far as the iconic sports car goes in terms of electrification – unless advances in battery technology allow for substantial reductions in added size and weight.
Frank Moser, the vice president of Porsche's two-door model lines, told Australian media, including Drive, the brand considered a 911 plug-in hybrid, but ruled it out due to size and weight constraints.
"I do not like the idea of a plug-in hybrid for a 911," Moser said, as the rear-engined sports car's "complex package" would need to be changed to accommodate a larger battery, motor, generator, and charging system to support driving on electric power alone.
"When we decided to make a performance hybrid, there was a discussion [about an electric-only driving range for the 911].
"The 911 has a very complex package. We have the iconic design of the car… it should not be bigger.
"The discussion was, if you want to drive fully electrically – even for only three or four kilometres – you'll need a bigger battery… You need to change the package of the car."
The current 992.2 Porsche 911's T-Hybrid (Turbo Hybrid) system, fitted to the latest GTS and Turbo S, operates more like a mild-hybrid car than a full-hybrid, as it cannot drive on electric power alone, but produces a genuinely helpful additional 40kW.
"The 400-volt battery of our performance hybrid has exactly the same size as the 12-volt battery, because it's the same package. We have it in the same location where the 12-volt battery was located," Moser added.
"We don't want to change the package of the car, we don't want to change the weight distribution of the car, therefore, we decided on the performance hybrid, and it was not easy to bring all the electric stuff in the package."
The executive acknowledged electric-vehicle technology advancements – such as more-efficient solid-state batteries, which require less mass than lithium-ion batteries – could prompt a re-evaluation of his current stance on a 911 PHEV, but any increase might still be insurmountable.
"If the batteries are going to be, or the cells are going to be, more-efficient, or the batteries are going to be smaller, that's a complete new game, and we can think, 'What's going to happen now?'"
"But as long as we need to change the package of the car, make it bigger, no [there will not be a 911 PHEV]."
Plug-in hybrid power was suggested for the current 992-generation 911 when it debuted in 2018, as now-retired chief engineer August Achleitner said its new design allowed it to offer "pure electric capability".
"We’ve taken the experience we gained with hybrid versions of the Cayenne and Panamera as well as the 918 Spyder and applied it to the new 911," Achleitner told Drive in 2018. "In the future, this will allow us to offer it with pure electric capability."
Jordan is a motoring journalist based in Melbourne with a lifelong passion for cars. He has been surrounded by classic Fords and Holdens, brand-new cars, and everything in between from birth, with his parents’ owning an automotive workshop in regional Victoria. Jordan started writing about cars in 2021, and joined the Drive team in 2024.
