Electric classic Porsche – Test Drive
[Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] hi I’m Richard from Electric classic cast and in this week’s episode we’re in the hills of Wales is Blue Sky and yes the two do go together sometimes but that can mean only one thing we’re test driving but what car could possibly be the perfect car for these twisty
Mountain Roads well it begins with p and ends in shh it is the Porsche 912 let’s get into it now before we get started let’s give you a little bit of a history of this car now a number of you are probably thinking it’s just a Porsche 911 isn’t
It well no as I mentioned previously it’s a Porsche 9912 and back in the mid-60s when the Porsche 356 was ending production and they were moving to this much more expensive exclusive Porsche 912 they were a little bit worried in the Porsche Factory that they were going
To exclude some of their Market because they were jumping up so high in price so they bought a base model of this body shape if you like out and that was the Porsche 9912 the main difference being a 4-cylinder engine out the pors 356 which
I think was a 1.6 engine was in the boot and everything else was pretty much the same but the price was lower and that’s the important thing and initially this actually outsold the Porsche 9911 in the first few years of production now when this first came out some motoring journalists thought the
4cylinder 912 handled better than the 6-cylinder 91 11 because it’s a little bit lighter in the rear so the weight distribution was better in the 912 and it made it a little bit more Nimble handling the curves so initially this 912 was held in quite high regard by the
Motoring journalists but is was just a little bit underpowered so the production wise it went from 1969 to 6 uh 1965 to 69 and then in 69 the Porsche 914 took over as the base model for the Porsche range and me and Tim have a special Affinity to that car cuz
Obviously we used to Rally it and I think that’s one of the best handling porches of that era quite frankly but this is a really good handling car as well however that wasn’t the end of the story for the Porsche 912 because in 1975 when the Porsche 914 ended
Production there was a year Gap until the new 924 which was the next base car was going to come out so what did they do there was a little like you know return for the Porsche 912 in 1975 one year only I think it was only available
In the US and it had a 2 L engine out of the Porsche 914 and after that that was the end of the 9912 right enough of all this Chit Chat Tim it’s time to pack away the camera and get in and drive it because that’s
What this car is all about on these Mountain Road so go on let’s go You’ve had your eye on this car for a while haven’t you mate you’ve been quite excited by this day coming it I have this is one of my favorite cars through the workshop it’s nice is it nice interior it’s beautiful I love the color I love the shape I love the interior
Nice nappy leather as somebody said to me once nappy leather is that nappy leather that was in a car show somebody said that now we’ve addressed the 912s Achilles heel with the uh lack of Power by putting a Tesla motor in the rear but weight distribution wise we’ve kept it
Exactly the same as the 912 but it’s obviously a little bit heavier it’s around about the same weight as the 9911 now so same weight as a 911 weight distribution of a 912 power of a Tesla and wels banging roads like this now that Tesla motor in the rear
Has a a theatrical max power at 300 horsepower but there’s no way the skinny tires on this 912 will be able to cope with that so we’ve dialed it down somewhat but even [Applause] now that’s enough it he quick yeah wow oh it’s nippy the original 912 wouldn’t
Do that would it no maybe down a very steep hill but you got the regen of braking as well on the rear and the disc brakes on the front so braking is pretty good we’re going down quite a steep now and what around about 100 amps going back in and the
Regen obviously when you’re tweaking the regen we have to dial it in per car because on a rear engine rear wheeel drive car you don’t want too much regen because that’ll be a little bit like pulling up the handbrake right I’m going to go a little
Bit quiet here now cuz I’m going to test that be a first yeah than I want to test the upgraded suspension out so who man this thing flies that’s so flat and planted isn’t it around the corners I tell you what this is a right Old Road
Weapon this is per the perfect car for these type of roads I was just thinking it’s the perfect car for us to get back into Road rallying if only the regulations would allow it yeah Tim always goes serious with a put a foot down yeah I do I always grab onto something as
Well I think you need to reinforce the door handle I’m grabbing onto what did you grab on to with the uh B 94 when the seat all right anything and everything yeah I like the way the regen sets you up for the corner and I don’t have to
Move my foot onto the brake all that when I’m coming into the corner like that slowing down setting up that’s just all just coming off that’s a good point that because normally you’d be off the accelerator and onto the brake but with with an electric car and regen you can
Almost manage that braking effect just by letting your foot off the accelerator you can really accurately you know set the car up on the road and position the car going into Corners ready for a bit of a uh show of Tesla power go on then I’m holding on right 3 2 1 go
Whoa that’s enough that’s quick isn’t it that’s quick enough wow that’s pretty impressive so what we’ve put in this car is our standard Porsche 911 conversion kit and range wise we’re getting probably around about 150 to 200 mile range depending on how you drive it but
Let’s just stop to have a chat about the kit now let’s have a look at the business end so in here is half of our standard Porsche 911 conversion kit now it’s fair to say we’ve been converting Porsche to Electric for 7 years I think um the first one was a beautiful
1979 tarer and that was a lovely car so our latest iteration is a 62 kwh battery pack split between the rear pack and the front pack it’s got a Tesla small Drive Unit or large Drive Unit if you really want to go for massive power and we’re selling these conversion kits to other
Conversion shops around the world but also poror Specialists as well there’s a number of poror Specialists that have bought this kit and are currently bolting them in in the US for instance so in there is the main battery pack you’ve got the charger there it’s CCS
Rapid charging as well um there’s a 7 KW AC charger there and this this is the header tank now a lot of people might be thinking what do you need a header tank for well you need two header tanks on uh electric conversions one for the battery
Pack to keep the temperature of the batteries in the happy Zone and one for the motor and an inverter and you don’t want the two mixing because they work at different temperatures so that’s what the rear looks like let’s have a look at the front right so up front is the other
Half of the battery pack now we’ve got this mounted where the original SP wheel used to be so we’ve lost a little bit of luggage space I’ll probably say about that much luggage space in this area but this area is exactly the same amount of luggage space so this is how we’ve
Improved the weight distribution of the original Porche 911 by having a little bit more weight up front with this B me so if you want to find out more about our Bolton electric conversion kits for the Porsches click on the link above Oh I enjoyed that I certainly did did you enjoy that I certainly did that’s one of the one of the nicest ones we’ve done I think it is is it I think this is one of the best total packaged cars we’ve ever built I mean it’s got the
Looks it’s got the handling it’s got the practicality it’s got the power it’s got you know all the other features that you need the range the rapid charging all those bits and pieces together in one car this is probably in my top three of conversions I’ve ever done what your WR
Is in my top one is it really yeah yeah and you haven’t even driven it yet either no you’re to drive it I would like to take that home yeah question to you guys out there what other car do you think would be an ideal total package
Converted to electric and uh on that note I hope you enjoy this episode and we’ll see you on the next One
It’s time to take out the electric Porsche 912 out onto the mountain roads of Wales for a proper shake down. Similar to the Porsche 911 conversions we do, this has a Tesla motor in the rear and battery pack split between a front and rear pack to optimise the weight distribution and therefore improve the handling.
Is there a better total package EV than this? Looks, handling, practicality, etc
