Discover The Electric Porsche 911

Hello and welcome to Fully Charged. This is a show about electric cars and the future of transport and energy. And what you can see behind me is a classic petrolheads fantasy. It is the Porsche 911, circa 1979. It is a classic, classic motor. Except this one's a bit different. Richard, this, look at this thing. It's a thing of beauty. It is a thing of beauty. What era is this then? It's not a brand new one, is it, by any means? This is a 1979, or was a 1979 SC Targa, which had a 3.2 litre engine in. And yeah, a very nice car in its day. But when we got it, it was kind of on its last legs. Was it a runner when you got it? It was a runner-ish, focus on the ish. So we had to do a complete restoration on this. But I mean, it looks immaculate now. So it isn't just that you've converted it to an electric car. You've kind of rebuilt it. Yeah, there's two kinds of things that we do. We do complete restorations and then electrify. Or we take a pretty good car and then just do the electrification. But on this one, it's a full-on restoration that we had to do. New wings, bare metal respray, a complete ground-up restoration on this. And what we've also done as well is a little bit of styling. So you'll see some things like the chrome headlights, rims, because normally these are colour-coded, LED headlights. So we've done a little bit of what's called a soft backdate on this as well, which has given it a little bit of a nice retro styling to it as well. It's now pure electric. Because often people say, oh, is it a hybrid? No, it's not a hybrid. No, we don't want that. I mean, is there any way of seeing the motor? Because I love the way you fit the interiors. Are the motors visible in this one? The motors and the battery packs are not visible, because there's a cover on the motor and the battery packs. Obviously, it's not safe to have people just accessing the battery. So you need a tool to get to them. This is different to the Volkswagen Beetle that we went in. It's different, but it's kind of the same basics, let's say. So we've got a front and back battery pack. So this is a 54 kWh battery pack using Tesla Roadster batteries. We've got, you remember the red Beetle that you came for a drive in last time? This has two of those motors, end-on-end. Wow, because that Beetle wasn't sluggish. Yeah, this has two. So we've got 54 kWh of battery pack, which is good enough for about 200 mile range if you're driving sensibly, just like any other car, petrol car. If you drive like me, that range might come down, but sensibly, you'll get 200 mile range out of it. And the 0-60 on this now with the electric motor is about half a second to a second less than when it had the big 3.2 lump in it. Wow, so it's very comparable to when it was at its racing peak, burning up the road in your Porsche. Because this really is, I mean, this is the sort of Porsche that you would drive when you had a really big phone. It's that era, isn't it? That's it, yeah. Anybody that's owned or knows about Porsches... Oh, wow, there's storage space there. ...they will fall off their chair. Right. Oh my God! Because now there's a boot. Yeah, now I have seen in the back, and that's full of very complicated German engineering normally. Yeah, that smells and drips oil on your driver. Drips oil on your driver and breaks down. But now this is a boot. So the roof, for instance, this Targa roof, so it folds up, the roof can go in there. And you can put the roof in there. Wow. Fit some bags in there if you're going to the coast for the day. Have you done this for a customer? Is there someone that... So this is a customer car that has been converted to electric, restored to the highest standards, and this is getting delivered actually in about a week's time. So we're just doing the final snagging on it now, and we'll probably do another buff and polish on the paint, and it's ready to go. So Richard, what I want to see is how batteries have changed, even in the time you've been doing electric cars, because that is what was in the red... That was in the red Beetle that we had last year. This is a Tesla Model S battery, of which in your car there is 16 of those in your car. So this is kind of a Tesla Model S in the box. Yeah, that's amazing. So when they're in the Model S, they're laid absolutely flat. All flat in the floor pan. And then this is essentially what's in a Tesla Roadster or a Mercedes smart car, electric cars have these in as well. So as far as energy density is concerned, that's half a kilowatt hour. Right. That's 5.2, 5.3 kilowatt hours, I think it is. And this is about three. What's amazing is this one. So this is half a kilowatt. So if you do it that, because it's roughly the same thickness. That's right, yeah. But if you had one, one, two, three, that's one and a half kilowatt hours. Correct. And this is five. So it really does show very clearly. Yeah, if we had to get 80 kilowatt hours in the Range Rover, which is what these are destined for the Range Rover, 80 kilowatt hours with those, we would not have much car left to sit in. And I mean, that is now probably two or three year old. I mean, so like the 100D, same size batteries, but with 15 kilowatt hours more. So clearly they're working towards greater energy density. Yeah, because if you think about it, the electric motor really hasn't been evolved since the days of Edison and Tesla themselves. But battery technology is just going. That is a very good noise. I like that noise. The noisiest part of the whole car. Seriously, we go now and we're moving. Yeah, that's much quieter than the window. Oh, I like that. You've driven lots of Porsches and lots of very noisy, very fast ones. Having never been in one, you know, I now think this is what Porsches are like. Yeah, good. And that's a good thing. They're really quiet and smooth. It's got power steering. This wouldn't have been built with power steering originally, so that you put that in. Put that in, yeah. Because there's a little bit more weight in the front. Obviously, we've got a front battery pack, but it just helps with when you're parking. It's a smaller, slightly smaller steering wheel as well. But it's great for parking. And as soon as you get above a certain speed, the electric power assist literally goes to nothing. Right. So this is second gear. We haven't, like, dipped the clutch or anything. And if you put your foot down, you've still got a bit of oomph. Because that is, it's so weird with an electric car with gears, is you expect it to run out way before it does. You know, in a petrol engine, you go and then you have to... I was expecting a gear change two seconds before you... Usually, when I drive these cars, I have them in fourth gear and I leave them in fourth gear. You start in fourth gear, you can go up to 130 miles an hour in fourth gear if you want. But normally, I leave it in one gear. Unless you're feeling that way inclined and you want to get a bit sporty and you can go up and down through the gears and you can feel as if you're in rally mode or whatever. But it feels... Yeah, I can tell it's got sort of sports car ride. It's got a harder... Yeah, I've set this up for, you know, a bit of a sporty ride if required. But not too sporty, not like the Beetle. That's more like a go car. So, how many gears have you got? Five. There are five, right? Yeah. Once you're up above, you know, 70 miles an hour or whatever, you can put it in fourth. It'll probably do 150 miles an hour if you have the coolness for it. Right. We won't be doing that today, though. No, no. And for that, I'm very grateful. Yes, just for you. Yeah, on this car, there's two modes. There's eco mode and power mode. So, if you really want to get the maximum range out of the car, you need to do a 200 mile journey, for instance. Pop it in eco mode. You won't even know that it's in eco mode, really, when you're driving it, apart from the fact that when you're decelerating, it's just more aggressive regen. Right, and so you reckon with careful driving, you would get around 200 miles in this one? I did 200 miles in this the other week. Wow, wow. This will get me from Mid Wales to Reading. Wow. I mean, it's not careful driving either. It's just like sensible driving. Yeah, yeah. I'm sure with careful driving, you probably get a little bit more. If you think about it, this is a 54 kilowatt hour battery pack. In a small two-seater car. In a small two-seater aerodynamic car. Yeah. What I'm trying to do is get in without grunting, but I'll just quickly do that. So, do I need to put foot on brake? Is that on? That's on, yeah. I shouldn't be surprised. Do you want me to make noises for you? Vroom, vroom, vroom. Don't press the go pedal yet. It's got a go pedal. Got to remember which is the go pedal. So, now with the go, and it's got a handbrake. Oh, yeah. Oh. Yeah, that's the go pedal. I'm just, I'm getting used to. It's the wing mirrors, which I absolutely agree are exquisite. Need to be adjusted. Period, but I can't see. I can see some road in that one and some car in this one. There we go. Oh, let me put this up because I like the sound. Note that one. Oh, I see what you mean about power steering. Yeah, because I remember the VW was heavier. I don't even know what gear I'm in. Just leave it in second. I'm in second. Literally, go, stop. Just don't have to worry about the clutch pedal. Just go and stop. Not too much of the go though, please, Robert. I'll go easy on the go. More stop than go. Wow, this is so weird. It's the first time I've driven a Porsche. Oh, oh, nice. It's certainly got a little bit of spirit. That's what's extraordinary. It's not the thing that your crazy Teslas have. It's that massive punch in the back right from the get-go. This one has a little bit of a slow build-up. But what's frightening is it's like you're going down a hill that starts shallow but then gets steeper because it just keeps bloody going, doesn't it? We program the cars up to the customers. So this, even though it's got the same setup, if you like, as the beetle, the crazy beetle we were in before. My silver one, not the red one that you filled last time. I've softened up the acceleration a little bit. From the very, from that sort of, because it's that brutal kick that is quite. I mean, you'll still get it if you put this in first gear, you'll still get quite a kick out of it, but it's certainly not as crazy as the other car. So I just programmed it to be a little bit softer on the acceleration. A bit of handbrake, corner. I could have spun the back out, but I didn't think I should. Henry's the customer and he will be watching this. Yeah, sorry, Henry. I'm being very careful and I'm very anxious. All right, let's try it. Let's try it. Oh, I see. OK. Now then, what about if I do that? I changed gear in an electric car. Gear diary. Today was a good day. Today was remarkable. So yes, that has got some serious welly when you put it in first. So if you want to do, if you want to show off at the traffic lights, you certainly can do. Oh, it'll keep up with probably anything. Yeah. Apart from a Tesla model, whatever, in ludicrous mode. Yeah. It's got some good punch. Oh, that's very impressive. Grab that. It's not a fairground ride, Robert. What's alarming is that the more often I do it, the worse I take the corners. Oh, no, that's a tight racing line. Oh, sorry. A bit of wheel spin, sir. Well, I must say I've had enormous fun driving this. The first Porsche I've ever driven and it's electric. It is a gold star in my school diary. It is ticked off the bucket list. What a privilege to have a go in it. Fantastic conversion. Absolutely brilliant. Anyway, that's it. Please do subscribe to Fully Charged if you want to. And also just have a little glance at the old Patreon link that's down below this video. And as always, if you have been, thank you for watching.