The days are winding down until Green Car Journal’s announcement of the winner of the 2014 Green Car Technology of the Year Award, which will take place January 22nd, on the second day of the 2014 Washington Auto Show.
We have been covering the ten nominees, all aimed at making greens cars the way of the future, most of them hybrid electric vehicle technology, such as those offered by Mazda, Honda, Cadillac, and Acura. On the other hand, Ford, BMW, and Audi are making the traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) more efficient than ever. Today, we’ll look at another hybrid electric vehicle technology advancement, the PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) powertrain developed for the Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid.
From the outside, the Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid is a sexy beast that, if I take my glasses off, is a dead ringer for its target, the Tesla Model S. Of course, a Porsche is much more than a sexy body, but has the performance powertrain to match, with the “E-Hybrid” tag though, would you consider it a green car? Porsche hopes that people will make the realization that the “S” and “E-Hybrid” tags aren’t at odds with each other, but perfectly complement what one expects of the brand.
The Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid powertrain could be the perfect blend of both performance and fuel economy. In spite of its sexy exterior and robust V8 ICE and electric motor, totaling 416hp, the Panamera is, indeed, a green car, averaging 54mpg, depending on how carefully you drive. Just for comparison, the upcoming Toyota Prius is rated at 55mpg, but it can’t sprint from zero to sixty in just under six seconds. Of course, if you really thrash the Panamera, it will act like a Porsche, giving you all the thrills you want, but you’ll pay for it with sub-20s fuel economy. That is perfectly fine, because you aren’t going to drive it that hard all the time, anyways, but it’s also nice to know it’s there for you when you want it.
Image © Motorblog.com
