Photo: Gilsung Park
Motorsport logic says that automakers race in Le Mans or F1 partly because they want to discover new technology for road cars. That's only partially correct, as racing is a great way to promote their expensive tech (e-tron, quattro and so forth).
On its second year of return to Le Mans, Stuttgart's pony brand managed to score a historic triumph. The 919 Hybrid is on everybody's lips and by the time the next 911 generation arrives, it too will have electric motors powering it.
Are you going to pay €120,000 to have a 450 horsepower 911 that can power itself on battery juice? If so, then you are going to support the electric revolution, as hybrids are only the beginning.
It's rumored that both Porsche and Audi are going to launch a fully electric sedan with a range of about 400 kilometers (around 250 miles). So we can be sure that sooner or later Le Mans victories will be contested between rechargeable machines.
It's not just a picture of a car that will never exist. He thought of features like an exchangeable battery, since you need a way to return rapidly to the track once the juice runs out. Can you imagine how the strategies will change after internal combustion is replaced by the flow of electrons?
"Do we change the battery to give him a boost or let it deplete until the race ends?" the pit bosses will say.
Even the propulsion is changed. As the 2035 concept doesn't use conventional electric motors. Instead, an air turbine levitation hub-motor creates both spinning force for the wheels and backwards thrust like a jet.
Are you going to pay €120,000 to have a 450 horsepower 911 that can power itself on battery juice? If so, then you are going to support the electric revolution, as hybrids are only the beginning.
It's rumored that both Porsche and Audi are going to launch a fully electric sedan with a range of about 400 kilometers (around 250 miles). So we can be sure that sooner or later Le Mans victories will be contested between rechargeable machines.
A design proposal
And that conveniently brings us to the subject at hand. We've recently discovered the work of a young Korean design student called Gilsung Park, studying at Hochschule Pforzheim in Germany. Or at least we think he is a student since he described his "Porsche Electric Le Mans 2035 Concept" as being a master thesis study for the winter semester. We've been told the man is now working at the Porsche Advanced Studio and we think he deserves his job.It's not just a picture of a car that will never exist. He thought of features like an exchangeable battery, since you need a way to return rapidly to the track once the juice runs out. Can you imagine how the strategies will change after internal combustion is replaced by the flow of electrons?
"Do we change the battery to give him a boost or let it deplete until the race ends?" the pit bosses will say.
Even the propulsion is changed. As the 2035 concept doesn't use conventional electric motors. Instead, an air turbine levitation hub-motor creates both spinning force for the wheels and backwards thrust like a jet.
Google News