When it comes to sports cars, the Porsche 911 is a quintessential model. At this point, it's beyond just a sports car. It's a yardstick that all other sports cars pit themselves against. Even though tons of other sports cars have tried to dethrone the 911 before, the devoted fans and enthusiasts aren't very easy to steer away from their beloved rear-engined icon. The 911's engine layout is perhaps its most recognizable feature, and it's also its claim to fame, for good and bad.
Since the very start, almost 60 years ago, the 911 has always used a horizontally opposed (boxer) six-cylinder engine mounted in the rear of the car. Even though this layout made the car rather terrifying to drive, over the years, Porsche refined and improved the formula and made the 911 one of the best-handling cars of all time. Porsche wants to make the combustion engine-powered 911 for as long as possible, to the point where they're investing into sustainable synthetic fuels. However, they have stated that there will eventually be an electric 911. Thanks to digital artist Rostislav Prokop, we can now exclusively see what that might look like in this exclusive car rendering.
Updated March 2023: With the electrification of the automotive industry, more OEMs are producing all-electric performance cars. We know Porsche is already in the EV world, but we wanted to imagine what a Porsche 911 EV would look like. Our rendering artist, Rostislav Prokop, painted us a picture of what that may look like with this crazy and elegant EV render.
All-Electric Porsche 911 Gets The Taycan Front-End
Exclusively for HotCars, artist Rostislav Prokop put together a series of speculative renders for the design direction Porsche might take with the battery-powered 911. Obviously, it retains the iconic silhouette and side profile, but there are some notable changes. The front end omits the round headlights in favor of units that draw inspiration from the Taycan. It seems to be a unanimous agreement that all of Porsche's future EVs will use the Taycan as a base for styling inspiration.
Rostislav Prokop's imagining has a soft-top, and it's safe to assume that Porsche will offer the same 911 body styles on the EV version as well. That means a coupe, a convertible, a Targa, and possibly even a Speedster version. The rear end is mostly the same as the combustion-engine 911, apart from the lack of exhaust pipes and the unique rear spoiler. It's safe to assume that the production 911 EV will also retain the rear light bar. Rostislav's imagining is gray, the wheels draw inspiration from the previous Cayman GT4, and this one also has blue brake calipers.
Electric Motors Already Exist For The Porsche 911 EV
As the 911 uses a powertrain layout unlike any other current car, it's safe to assume that Porsche will create a bespoke EV platform specifically for the battery-powered 911. That most likely rules out the J1 platform used by the Taycan and the upcoming PPE platform that they're developing with Audi, which will underpin the upcoming electric Macan, a fantastic SUV even in its current form, and Audi A6 e-tron, but it doesn't have to be the case.
Electric car platforms are set up differently, and they can have a motor mounted on either the front or the rear. In any case, this being Porsche, a bespoke EV platform just for the 911 is entirely possible, since it's their flagship. Assuming they carry over the nomenclature from the regular 911, the 911 EV will most likely get all the same model variants. That includes the Turbo S, which will probably retain that name even in EV form, since that's exactly what Porsche did with the Taycan.
As the electric 911 will be a fair bit heavier, these models will most likely be more powerful than their ICE counterparts. The Turbo S will probably be in the neighborhood of 800 hp, and a potential GT2 RS could easily break the 1,000-hp barrier. The base models will most likely feature a single motor on the rear, and the 4S models and so on will include dual motors. As this is Porsche, we're expecting the interior from the Taycan or any future electric Porsche to carry over.
The EV Porsche 911 Is Inevitable
The electric 911 is still a long way away. Porsche wants to make the ICE-powered 911 for as long as they can, or at least until they're basically forced to switch to battery power. We will definitely see a 911 hybrid before the full EV version, but we're hoping that the upcoming electric Cayman and Boxster, which the Mission R concept previewed, gives us a little sneak peek of what we can expect.
Expect to see the 911 EV in 2028 at the earliest, while Porsche still continues to make the ICE 911, as well as using it as a test bed for sustainable fuels. Even though we applaud them for that, we're still very excited to see what an electric 911 could bring to the table. If it's even half as good as the current 911, and if Porsche manages to capture the spirit of every 911 without the sound of a flat six, similar to what the Taycan did, that will definitely be a winner.