The new Porsche 911 is electric – but not as we know it

Porsche has revealed the next generation of its iconic 911 sports car and, for the first time, there’s a hybrid option.

The company first dabbled with the idea of a hybrid 911 all the way back in 2010 with the GT3 R Hybrid race car. Fast-forward almost 15 years and a relative of that technology has now found its way into the first road-legal 911 hybrid.

For now, only the GTS variant of the new 911 has a hybrid drivetrain. It sits alongside an equally new (but non-hybrid) 911 Carrera, with other members of the 911 family to be updated over the next couple of years. For now, it isn’t clear which versions of 911 will get the hybrid treatment, other than the GTS. It’s likely the Turbo and flagship Turbo S will, but they’ll be along later.

How does the 911 hybrid work?

The new, 992.2-generation 911 GTS is powered by an equally new 3.6-litre flat-six engine. The engine's single turbocharger is powered by a small electric motor, placed between the compressor and the turbine wheel. Porsche says this motor “instantaneously brings the turbocharger up to speed” and “immediately builds up boost pressure”.

The tiny motor also acts as a generator, creating up to 15 horsepower of electric power by extracting energy from the flow of exhaust gases. Porsche explains: “The wastegate-free electric turbocharger allows the use of only one turbocharger instead of the previous two, which ensures a more dynamic and responsive power delivery.”

Porsche’s new hybrid system also has a second, larger electric motor. This lives inside the new, eight-speed, dual-clutch PDK gearbox and supplements the 479 horsepower engine with an additional 54 horsepower and 120 Nm (110 ft-lbs) of torque. Both motors are powered by a tiny, 1.9 kWh battery pack operating at 400 volts, and there’s a lightweight lithium-ion battery for the car’s 12-volt system. Porsche says total weight has increased by 50 kg compared to the previous GTS, with half of that being the hybrid battery.

Porsche calls the new drivetrain the T-Hybrid system; it cannot be plugged in to charge the battery and there is no electric-only drive mode. Instead, this is a hybrid system built purely to increase performance. The battery charges via regenerative braking as the car is driven.

Total power output of the new 911 GTS hybrid is 534 horsepower (an increase of 60 horsepower on the previous GTS) and 570 Nm of torque. Porsche claims a 0-62 mph time of 3.0 seconds, so you can expect the GTS’s 0-60 time to begin with a two for the first time. Top speed is a claimed 194 mph.

What else is new?

As ever with Porsche, the new 911 looks a lot like the old one. The most obvious change is at the front, where the GTS has gained a set of vertical flaps that form part of its new active aerodynamics system. There’s also a new rear light and the rear bumper has also changed slightly for the new model.

Inside, the cabin remains mostly unchanged, aside for the removal of the iconic analogue rev counter. This has been replaced by the same curved, all-digital, 12.6-inch driver display as found in the Taycan and new Macan. The key-like engine start switch has also gone, replaced by an engine start-stop button, and the small rear seats are now a no-cost option. This means the 911 is now homologated as a two-seater, with buyers able to add the children's seats back in for no fee.

Some of these visual changes also appear on the new 911 Carrera, which does not use the T-Hybrid system. The GTS hybrid is price from £132,600 and is available to order now; the new, non-hybrid 911 Carrera starts at £99,800.