Hybrid Supercars

So my last post concentrated on fully electric supercars that are currently on the market. It occurred to me that there are no supercar manufacturers that currently manufacture a fully electric car. The likes of McLaren, Ferrari, Lamborghini and even Porsche best attempts are only hybrids. Maybe this is the way forward until better technologies emerge to product better electric vehicles.

Going back to the hybrids currently on the market. Manufacturers are almost taking the mickey with hybrid engines. The McLaren P1, an electric and petrol hybrid, has a range of only 10km. With that said, the biggest problem non-enthusiasts have with supercars are their loud engines. The 10km range of the electric engine inside a P1 will get through some inner cities, therefore reducing the amount of noise and nuisance caused to residents, so in a way you can almost understand the reason why the electric engine has such a small range. But still, 10km? Really McLaren?

Next up, we have the Porsche 918 Spyder. Slightly similar looking to the P1, but I know i'd far sooner have a British hybrid supercar. The Porsche comes with a 4.6L V8, with an electric motor that is capable of a range of a measly 19km (About 12 miles). Like the P1, I feel that this is partly to give driver the ease of driving peacefully through inner cities and then allowing them to enjoy the sweet sound of that V8 while out on the open road. 

Ferrari's answer to these hybrid vehicles (that aren't really hybrids) is the LaFerrari (pictured below). Different to the other too, Ferrari has given this monster a V12 engine, capable of producing 227MPH. It does come with a hefty price tag of £1 million though, but worth it in my opinion for a vehicle that can out power an Enzo. Unlike the other hyper-hybrids, the Ferrari uses it's electric motor to power the rear axle only, giving the car higher torque at lower revs, meaning the Ferrari has power on tap when going slow or fast. 

Lamborghini are yet to properly respond to this move towards hybrid engines. The company did announce the concept of their new model the Asterion, last month at the Geneva motor show. The company have since announced that the Asterion will simply stay as a concept and will not yet be going into production. The vehicle rumoured to have 3 separate electric generators, producing an extra 300bhp on an already 607bhp V12 petrol engine. The company did acknowledge however that the automotive industry is trending towards hybrid and alternatively fuelled vehicles, due to popular demand. Many customers now are focussing on saving money and protecting the environment. Consumers are sharper and know more about the technology involved in developing alternatively fuelled vehicles. Thanks to Tesla and other research, this technology is practically open source, allowing anyone to develop it, hence why hybrid and other alternatively fuelled engines are developing so rapidly. 

This trend in the market however, is to go against the many petrol heads like myself out there, that enjoy the sound of a V8 or V12 roaring past them. This arguement will be forever ongoing in my opinion, but who's to say in 10, or even 5 years time, we'll all be driving hybrid, or electric cars with V8 sounds coming through the interior speakers to make us all feel better.